The Unexpected
by x0-vindicated-0x
Summary: Attraction comes in the weirdest of packages, but this was way outside their expectations. Dasey.
1. The Freak

**This is a sequel to the Always and Forever, Surviving the Dysfunction, and Because I Have You trilogy. I told myself time and time again that this saga was already too long, and you guys would all kill me for continuing it further... but the idea has been stuck for months, and I can't help it! If you have not read those, I highly suggest you do so, to understand. Personally, I would not have a clue what I was reading, if I didn't read the backstory first. But, your choice.**

**This is a Dasey, just so you know. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter One: The Freak **

"Kelly, I swear to God, if you don't get out of the bathroom _this instant, _you won't _want_ to spend so much time looking at your reflection in the mirror, 'cause I will seriously mess you-"

"Whoah now, hold up!" Derek said, his hands falling easily around the fifteen year old's wrist, pulling her away from the door that she'd been about to kick. He made sure that she was a good three feet away from the door, before facing her, his hands still clutching her wrists. Her face was red with what looked like anger, but he merely laughed as he shook his head, grinning.

"You might not wanna do that, Tay," he reminded her, with a simple nod towards the stairs at the end of the hall, which led to the living room below. "Your Mom is downstairs in the living room, and you know how mad she got the last time we had to replace a door that you kicked in. I don't think she's over that one yet, may not wanna push it."

Tara's teeth gritted together as she shook her head, her anger never fading as her eyes gleamed with anger. Clearly, she was too frustrated with her eighteen year old sister's obsession with a mirror, to even factor in the wrath of her mother's anger, if she were to break another door in her annoyance towards her older sibling. Derek, however, couldn't deal with another three days of Casey ranting about how much it had cost to replace yet another door. He knew that it was in both his, and Tara's, best interests if he were to stop her from any violence here and now.

"Why don't you just go to the downstairs bathroom, for today?" he suggested, raising an eyebrow at her hopefully as he released her wrists, allowing her to cross her arms across her chest. "I'll have a little talk with your sister when she gets out of the bathroom, and let her know that- if she doesn't learn to share- that vanity set we bought her for the bathroom will be going up for sale. I don't think she'll appreciate that."

Tara watched her father for a moment, uncertainty flickering through her eyes as she examined the proposal from every angle. Derek knew that she was still debating between waiting outside the door to tell her sister off, or making it to school on time. And, even if it was only the fact that she was dangling on the verge of a suspension at school, she nodded her head, unfolding her arms from across her chest. Derek relaxed a little bit, knowing that he'd managed to settle the first battle of the day with his girls, though he knew that it would by no means be the last. Kelly and Tara, the only two of the four children that still lived at home- fought like cats and dogs, and he was sure that there hadn't been a single day that they hadn't fought with each other since Tara could speak. As children, they had squabbled over the littlest of things; toys, the remote, who got to sit where in the SUV, what they wanted to do that day, blah, blah blah. Derek had heard it all. Anything that could be turned into an argument would be, and that was something that he had accepted from the very beginning of the sisters relationship to each other.

Now that they were adolescents, and essentially fighting for dominance in the household, and the school, the two of them were at each other's throats constantly. Kelly was graduating this year, in less than a month, but Tara was only in the ninth grade, earning herself a spot in the youngest group in the entire school.

The girls were polar opposites. Kelly, who had always been the more girly of the two of them, had turned into a predictable little princess. She had dyed her hair blonde within the past year, and much to Derek's relief- it suited her. He couldn't imagine the uproar there would've been if she had hated it. Her outfits always matched, and always managed to outdo every other girl in her grade. Derek was pretty sure that she was sort of like the Kendra of her own time- ruling the school with her stunning good looks, and her seemingly dazzling personality. The only difference between Kendra and Kelly was that Derek and Casey had raised Kelly to be a good person, despite the status she had earned herself. She never let her popularity go to her head, and despite the fact that she had a lineup of girls just dying to be her friend, she had never wavered from the friendship she'd built back in the second grade, with a much quiter and plain girl, Sarah Mason. Sarah wasn't ugly; on the contrary, she was a good looking girl, but she was too shy to be much of a flirt, like Kelly was. If Kelly didn't have such strong morals, Derek knew that the two of them would never have been caught dead hanging out in the same social circle, but it was Kelly's loyalty to her personality and to her true friends that kept their relationship so strong. And really, he couldn't be prouder of her for that.

Tara was the complete opposite of her older sister. The both of them were extremely intelligent, of course, being Casey's daughters, but Tara didn't use it in the same way as Kelly did. While Kelly would come home proudly displaying her top notch report cards to her parents, Tara would give them a shrug, and tell them that she had done "okay" on her report. This would've been a cause for worry, if they didn't know that she had the second highest grade point average in her year, right below the ten year old whiz kid who'd skipped a few grades to get to where he was today. Derek had a feeling that she didn't like showing off how smart she really was, because that was _Kelly's_ thing. It was her sister's job to be a goody two shoes, not hers. During parent teacher interviews, Derek and Casey would always be presented with flawless test scores, outstanding assignment marks, and yet a warning that Tara needed to learn how to speak up in class, and how to actually _attend_ every class, everyday. They had spoken to her about skipping school, but she had pointed out that- she was basically the second smartest kid in her grade, and if that had been working for her all along, why would it do her any harm now? Derek had sort of seen her point, but he hadn't been surprised when Casey, the girl who would never be caught dead breaking a rule set by school authorities- had insisted that her daughter attend classes everyday, claiming that universities didn't want to take in kids who couldn't commit themselves to attending classes everyday. Tara had merely rolled her eyes at the lecture, and muttered something about how nobody cared about university, but nonetheless, the next time they had spoken with the school, they'd been informed that Tara hadn't missed a single day of classes since the last time her parents had visited the school.

Sure, she was a bit of a troublemaker, but she was a good kid, through and through. Unlike her sister, who had fallen victim to the world of fashion, Tara didn't really care how she dressed. She had her own style, and as long as her clothes fit into the category of her personal liking, she was happy. Usually, this meant that she could be happy with dark blue or black jeans, and a random t-shirt underneath a black jacket or hoodie. She was something of a tomboy, but nonetheless, she was a good looking girl. Her long hair fell past her shoulders, and she usually kept the chocolate brown hair straight, or else pulled back into two braids. She never did much in the way of makeup; a bit of coverup, some eyeshadow and some lipgloss could keep her happy. Her sister, taking pity on the girl's fashion sense, had once left a small sampling of pink eyeshadow in Tara's room, but Derek could recall the garbage can being spotted with pink powder, later that night. Neither girl had said a word about the incident, and no more gifts in the form of makeup had appeared in Tara's room again.

Her best friend, much to Casey's happiness, had always been Cole and Kallie's youngest- Leah Myers. She was a year younger than Tara, and was therefore a grade beneath her, but the two of them had been inseperable since the time Leah was born. The girls had played together as toddlers, and- despite a few little squabbles- they had remained friends throughout their childhood years. The fact that their parents were best friends had basically kept them together, whether they liked it or not. It was clear that they had a true friendship that could withstand almost anything. Even the beginning of this school year, which had brought with it the seperation of the two- Leah stuck in junior high, and Tara moving onto high school- had not been able to persuade the two of them away from each other. They would meet up at the park between the schools every single afternoon, and walk home together. Cole and Kallie had moved closer to Derek and Casey over the years, and their house was a mere block and a half away from theirs. Much to Derek's dismay, they had sold their old house- the one that was a mere ten minute walk away from the Venturis- to Ryan Bennett, and his wife Melanie. The move had taken place nearly seven years ago now, but it was still something Derek wasn't totally okay with.

Needless to say, he had been completely opposed to the idea, at the time. He had spent an entire evening storming around the house, muttering useless threats under his breath, cursing his best friends for allowing such scum to move in so close to his family, so close to Casey. Of course, he trusted Casey, and he understood that- what had happened between her and Ryan had been nearly fifteen years ago, now. His worries about her cheating on him again had been pushed aside long before, buried within the deep realms of their past- never to be revisited. He trusted Casey to have more common sense on the matter now, considering the fact that they'd been together for twenty years or so, at this point. Hell, he even trusted Ryan- not in general- but in terms of staying away from his wife. As much as he hated the guy, and as much as he didn't trust him with most things... he understood that Ryan did love Melanie, and that he had no worries, when it came to Casey and Ryan getting involved with each other again. It just wasn't going to happen. Sure, he still never allowed Ryan and Casey to be alone for extended periods of time, but he did trust them not to do anything like that again.

Ryan and Melanie's little girl Amy was Kelly's age, of course. They were in the same school, and as far as Derek knew, they shared alot of the same classes. Kelly and Amy had maintained a fairly decent friendship throughout the years. They weren't best friends or anything, but they did hang out occasionally, and they made a point of staying in touch online. Whenever one of the girls had a party of any sorts, you could rest assured that the other girl would be on the invite list. It was obvious that they were close, but their social circles didn't really mingle much during school. The girls both fully understood, however, that their families were going to be connected for what would probably be the rest of their lives- with Amy's aunt and uncle being Kelly's parents best friends, so they seemed to understand that staying friends would be in their best interests, if they were going to be thrown together randomly for the rest of their lives, anyway.

Ryan and Melanie also had a son, who was only a year younger than Tara, putting him in the same school as her best friend, his cousin, Leah. His name was Alexander, though everyone generally called him Alex. He was a decent kid, though Derek had never really grown fond of him. He had to admit that the kid definitely had a talent when it came to hockey; he was on the team that Derek coached, and he supposed that he was a nice kid. But it was his looks, that always got to Derek. The kid looked just like his father, and that was something that bothered Derek. His shaggy brown hair fell around his face, shaped perfectly after Ryan's. The only physical features that he seemed to have inherited from his mother were his eyes, which were a dazzling shade of brown, always filled with a mischevious little spark.

Much to his own happiness, Tara- the only one within a proper age range of Alexander- had never really taken a liking to the boy. The two of them had been in the same school up until the year before, and Tara had constantly referred to him as what Casey called a "mini-Derek". According to Tara, he was the biggest flirt in the entire eighth grade. He had dated almost every girl in his year, and even now, she claimed that half the girls in her school were interested in Alexander Bennett, even the older ones. Derek had to admit- such a dating record would have impressed him, if his father wasn't who he was. All Derek could think of when he thought of what a player Alexander was was that he was going to turn out just like his father- taking away other people's girls, and using people to their full extent.

He snapped back to attention when Tara's eyes flickered towards the bathroom door again, a sense of longing in her eyes as she tightened her hand into a fist. Derek could sense her anger, and he tightened his grip around her wrist, shaking his head.

"C'mon, you've got better things to be doing than fighting with your sister, don't you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure I can talk some sense into Kelly when she comes out, alright?"

Tara snorted, pulling her wrist out of her father's grasp, and folding her arms across her chest defiantly.

"There's no talking sense into that girl," she argued, resentment glistening in her eyes. "You'd have to get past twelve layers of makeup to even consider shoving anything into that thick skull of hers. Honestly, you and Mom could put her through college, with the money she spends on makeup. It's just not fair."

Derek laughed, shaking his head as he ruffled Tara's hair, earning one of her much-feared scowls. He quickly drew his hand back, stuffing both of his hands into the pockets of his sweater, and he sighed, speaking up in his other daughter's defense, though he knew this would surely tick Tara off.

"Kelly's got a job, Tay," he reminded her, his voice as neutral as it possibly could be. "If she wants to spend her paychecks on makeup, that's her call. We've got a college fund set aside for both you and your sister, and when the time comes, the money will be there. You're only young once, right?"

Tara stared at her father, her eyes narrowed bitterly as she gave a frustrated sigh, shaking her head angrily.

"Mom's right," she decided, her logical side shining through once more. "You're way too reckless. I'm... what? Three years younger than Kelly, and I've probably got more money saved up than she does. I don't even have a job yet, and I'm more responsible than she is. You can't honestly tell me that you would've let Jeff or Jay get away with any of this."

Derek raised an eyebrow, keeping a straight face as he folded his arms across his chest, trying not to let his voice waver at all.

"What, spend their paychecks on makeup?" he questioned, the very thought of it making him want to laugh. "Nope, I can't say I would, but that's mainly because I was under the impression that my sons were not crossdressers. I mean, I know Jayden has some freakishly girly characteristics, but-"

"Jayden has _what_, sorry?" came a deep male voice to his right, and Derek looked up to see a twenty-nine year old Jayden coming towards him, his eyebrows furrowed together, and an amused smile on his lips. The man was taller than Derek, by now, and his brown hair still fell in front of his eyes in the same messy manner as it always had. He had never lost the playful gleam in his eyes, and Derek would never fully be able to see Jayden as an adult, despite his obvious changes in appearance, over the years. He knew that there was still alot of kid left in Jayden, and it came through quite clearly whenever he came home to visit his sisters, -even moreso when he helped his wife pick out things for the nursery, for the baby they would be expecting in a few short months.

Tara's eyes immediately fell on her brother, and Derek saw the excitement flicker across her pretty features. If there was anyone she related to most, it would most definitely be Jayden. Being the youngest, she had always felt completely oblivious to everything her family had gone through before, and Jayden was someone that she related to, in terms of all that. He was the outsider- in the sense that he was the only one with no blood relation to them, and Tara often felt like an outsider, being the youngest. He had definitely been her favourite sibling, over the years.

"Jay!" she cried, happiness in her voice as she threw herself forwards, all thoughts of dismembering her sister forgotten. Jayden chuckled as he wrapped his arms around his youngest sister, smirking,.

"Glad to see my presence never ceases to amaze," he said, kissing the side of her head gently. "You get excited everytime I walk through the door, Tay. It's like you're afraid I won't come back, or something."

Tara merely grinned as she pulled back, her eyes not denying a single inch of her joy to see her brother. It wasn't that often that he got to drop by, lately. While he only lived about fifteen minutes away from them, he had been busy with his wife, lately. Expecting a baby had done lots to her already edgy hormones, and he was constantly walking on tiptoe, trying not to do a single thing that would upset her too much.

Before either of them could utter another word, the bathroom door flew open. The three heads turned, their eyes all settling on Kelly's completely flawless features. The century that had seemingly passed while she stood in front of the mirror had definitely paid off for her. Her makeup was done perfectly, and her blonde hair fell in gentle waves around her shoulders. Her baby blue and white tank top matched perfectly against her already tanned skin, and the smile that she flashed them just topped off the look of stardom, that she was destined for.

"Jay?" she questioned, her voice just as surprised as Tara's had been. "I thought I heard you. What are you doing here?"

She slipped out of the bathroom, closing the door behind her, and Tara rolled her eyes before giving her brother another quick hug.

"Sorry to cut this short, but I've got to go get ready," she said, backing up towards the bathroom door, her hand already reaching behind her for the handle. "I'd have more time to spend with you, but _someone_ took forever and a day to put her face on, this morning. And every other morning, now that I'm thinking about it."

She shot a meaningful look in Kelly's direction, which was returned with nothing more than a slouch, and a careless eyeroll in her direction.

"Beauty takes time, little sister," she teased, before turning to the men, shrugging her shoulders. "Kids these days, right? What do they know?"

Anger flickered across Tara's face, and Derek could smell trouble from a mile away as he watched her eyes widen murderously at her older sister. Kelly was oblivious to the fact that she had set off her sister's anger, but Derek sure wasn't. He sensed Tara's words before they were even out of her mouth.

"I know enough to know that your brand new ninety dollar boots would look even better if I shoved them up-"

"Tara!" Derek exclaimed, his eyes widening as Kelly's jaw dropped. He knew that she was not even shocked by her sister's word choice, just by the thought of something horrible happening to her precious boots. He decided to dismiss her fashion addiction for the time being, and he raised an eyebrow at his youngest daughter, who was red in the face, and looked ready to kill.

"Stop threatening your sister- I mean it," he cautioned her, hoping that she would take him seriously, for once. "She's the only sister you've got, and-"

He paused, realization crossing his features as Tara's words echoed through his mind a little more thoroughly. All three of his children frowned as his eyes widened, and he turned on Kelly, his anger towards Tara momentarily forgotten. Kelly sensed this, and took a step away from her father as Derek's anger began to build up.

"Hold on a second," he breathed out, his voice sounding strained. "You spent ninety dollars on a pair of _boots_, but you couldn't fork over thirty dollars to pay off the browser charges you racked up on your phone bill, this month? You told me and your mother you spent it on the _necessities_, Kel."

Tara's anger had faded momentarily in honour of her sister's current situation, and she watched with a smirk as Kelly blinked at her father, apparantly not seeing the issue.

"Fashion _is_ a necessity, Daddy," she said, sounding annoyed. "How many times do I have to tell you that? Besides, they were on sale!"

Derek's eyes just about popped out of his head at this, and he nearly choked over his own words as he spoke.

"On _sale_?" he repeated, shocked. "For who, Oprah? I hope you kept the receipt to those, because they are _so _going back where they came from!"

"Can't we just send Kelly back where she came from?" Tara put in innocently, and Derek ignored her as Kelly replied to her father's statement.

"I threw out the receipt, Daddy," she said, pouting in hopes that she would win her father over, just as she always did. "I didn't think it would be a big deal."

"Look who thought wrong," Tara put in, smirking as she folded her arms across her chest. "And, correction sis- you don't think at all. Don't worry- we're used to it by now."

"Shut up, Tara," Kelly put in, her eyes suddenly narrowing at her younger sister, but they were both interrupted by the sound of Derek speaking up, trying his hardest to voice his parental authority, without getting too angry with either of them.

"Tara, stay out of it and go get your shower," he said, obviously distracted by his daughter's spending addiction. "Kelly, I hate to admit it, but your sister is right on this. You aren't thinking when you do things like this- not at all. I'm okay with you buying a few new outfits, and some makeup, but to the extent that you spend your money... it's unhealthy, Kel."

"See, even Dad agrees that you're a shopaholic," Tara said, obviously fighting back laughter as she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder, trying to look concerned. "It's okay, Kel. We're here to _help_ you with your addiction. Have no fears."

"Tara- go get your shower," Derek said again, through gritted teeth, obviously getting fed up with his girls. Kelly smirked, folding her arms across her chest as she nodded at her sister. Derek could sense a cruel comment coming before it had even escaped his oldest daughter's lips, and he was not surprised by the bitterness in his daughter's voice when she spoke up again.

"Yeah Tay," she mocked, raising an eyebrow. "You heard Dad- go get your shower. Your hair is looking a little greasy this morning. Honestly, I thought I was the only one that noticed that. Good eye, Daddy. Glad to see old age hasn't entirely stolen your eyesight away just yet."

"Kelly, you can't just say things like that to your-" he paused, frowning. "Now wait just a second. I am _not_ old."

Kelly shrugged, sensing that her mission was accomplished. Her father had evidently forgotten about the ninety dollars that she had thrown down the drain on boots, and it was obvious that this was all she cared about, whether she got in trouble for her other statements or not. So, without another care in the world, she had folded her arms across her chest, and was making her way down the hallway, her father trailing after her with narrowed eyes.

"Hey, I'm not done with you!"

Tara watched as her father strode down the hall after his eldest daughter, clearly offended by her comment. She could not help but roll her eyes at the way this had turned out. She should have known that Kelly saying something cruel to her would have absolutely no consequences, or punishments. While both girls had their father completely and totally trained into giving into every one of their demands, Tara always seemed to get in trouble for their fighting more than Kelly did. This was not the first time that someone had brushed off insults directed towards her, to deal with Kelly's atittude problem.

She sighed, turning towards the door bitterly, but her brother's hand on her shoulder stopped her. She hesitated with her hand on the doorknob, closing her eyes as she waited for him to get on with it.

"What is it, Jay?" she asked, trying not to let it show that her father's reaction had hurt. "I have to get ready. School, you know?"

"Don't let it bother you," Jayden said softly, seeing right through her mask. "Dad loves you just as much as he does Kelly. You know that, Tay."

She sighed, her eyes flickering towards the ceiling as she tried to steady her breathing. She knew that Jayden was right, and that her father would do anything for her, but there were days that she questioned who he really loved more. She was loved by her father, she knew that, but if his love for the two of them was equal, why was it always Kelly who won every single argument? Why did any hint of rudeness towards the youngest child always seem to get shoved to the side, so that their parents could chase after Kelly?

"I know Daddy loves me," she said, not turning to look at him. "You don't have to tell me that, okay? Kelly just requires more attention than I do, I guess."

She moved to turn the doorknob, but Jayden tightened his grip on her shoulder, stopping her. She groaned, tilting her head back, and he went on as though he had not witnessed such a reaction.

"Yes," he said, nodding his head at her. "Kelly does require more attention than you sometimes. And do you want to know why?"

"Because she's a drama vaccum? An attention magnet? A sook and a drama queen?"

Jayden gave her a pointed look, raising an eyebrow, and she rolled her eyes, giving up.

"Fine. Enlighten me with your _wisdom_, oh wise one."

He ignored her attitude, and went on as though she had not insulted him in the slightest.

"Kelly gets more attention because she asks for it," he told her, shrugging. "She's _eighteen,_ Tara. God, do you remember what I was like at eighteen?"

Tara smiled faintly, shaking her head as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Not really- I was... what, three?" she reminded him, and when he frowned, she went on. "I think I remember you storming out of the house a few times though, and saying you were sick of everyone bossing you around."

"Exactly," Jayden reminded her, the tiniest hint of a grin on his face at her statement. "God, I did everything I could to stress our parents out, I think. I threatened to run away that one time, remember- when Dad wouldn't give me the car to take Kayla out? I got mad when they wouldn't lend me money, I picked fights with Jeff and sooked when our parents took his side... I think I gave Kelly a run for her money, actually."

"But why?" she asked, shaking her head with confusion. "Isn't maturity supposed to come with age?"

"Sometimes," he replied, shrugging. "But I was... I dunno, testing the limits, I guess. I was seeing how much I could get away with when I was still at home. I wanted to suck up as much granted freedom as I could, from them. I had to give them hell, since I wasn't going to be around to do it much longer. And Kelly's a drama queen already, so you can imagine how much worse it will be with her."

"But it's _always _been like this with her!" she complained, her face falling as she tried her hardest not to whine. "She has always gotten what she wants. I've always been the one getting in trouble for our fights. It's been like that since the very beginning, Jay. You can't blame this on her being eighteen and difficult. Maybe she's gotten worse because of it, but-"

"But nothing," Jayden interrupted, shaking his head. "Point is, Kelly's your sister. She's your _only_ sister, and you two need to put aside this stupid rivalry, and just get along for once. I've been dealing with it since you were old enough to talk, and to be honest, I'm not going to have much time for it, once my own baby comes along. When I visit my family, I don't want to be faced with just as much screaming and crying as my wife will probably be doing, everytime I so much as forget to rinse a plate."

He shuddered at his wife's edgy hormones, and Tara rolled her eyes as she realized that, just like her father, Jayden was dismissing the problem as some sort of temporary setback between the two girls. When would they learn that this dislike for each other was not temporary? It had always been there, and she had a feeling that it was not going to go away anytime soon. The rivalry that existed between her and her sister was stronger than any other sibling rivalry. It was almost like they had been born with this intense dislike for each other, and she had no idea how to shake it.

Okay, so she didn't hate her sister. She was family, and she would always love her family. But she had always found that, while it was so easy to develop a strong bond with her other siblings, or her parents, she had never been able to really connect with her sister.

And honestly, she had learned not to let it bother her. Sure, sometimes she wished that she had a sister that she could talk to anything about, but she was happy enough. She could go to the others about practically anything, and that was enough, wasn't it?

But to make her brother happy, she nodded her head, forcing out the best smile she could summon. She knew that Jayden wouldn't believe a word of what she was about to say, but she forced herself to get out the words that she knew he wanted to hear.

"You're right," she said, not even believing her own words. "I'm sure we'll get over it eventually. We're teenage girls- we were born to rival each other. But we'll, uh... we'll get over it. And I'll try not to let it bug me too much, alright?"

As predicted, Jayden looked nowhere near convinced. His eyes were fixed on her face, and the disbelief in them was absolutely obvious. She knew that she could not erase fifteen years of bickering and arguing by tossing a few words out there, and saying that she would 'get over' the differences between her and her sister. It would take alot of hard work and effort to make anyone believe her and Kelly could get along, and she knew that the end of the world was more likely to come before a friendship would develop between Kelly and herself. The two of them were just complete and total opposites, and whoever had said that opposites always attracted... well, they clearly hadn't met the Venturi sisters.

But Jayden was obviously aware of the fact that the girls had class in about an hour, and he probably had plans of his own that day. Now was definitely not the time to get involved in any of his little sister's arguments. There was a time and a place for that, and here and now was not it.

So he nodded, forcing a grim smile onto his lips as let go of Tara's shoulder, and ruffled her hair playfully.

"Go get your shower," he said, and without another word, he had disappeared down the hall in the same direction his father had just ventured off in. Tara turned her head slightly, squinting after her brother. For a moment, she almost considered calling him back, and apologizing for stressing him out so much, but as her gaze focused on the tiny clock that rested on the endtable at the end of the hall, she realized that homeroom started in an hour. She didn't have the time to argue with her sister, or apologize to her brother. She was already on the verge of a suspension, and she wasn't going to let any eighteen year old drama queens stain her permanent records with suspensions.

It just wasn't worth it.

- - - -

"And so now, Dad says I have to bring the boots back and get a refund," Kelly explained to her best friend, rolling her eyes as she stowed her history binder on the top shelf of her locker. "Can you believe that, Sarah? I mean, my Mom's got a great sense of fashion, and then my Dad... well... he thinks ninety dollars is too high a price to pay for a good pair of boots. I mean, come on- what century did he grow up in?"

"Who cares?" their friend Allison piped up, a sly grin on her face. "He's a total hottie."

Kelly's face screwed up in disgust, and she gave her friend a weird look, her hand freezing as she reached for her math binder.

"Aly, that's disgusting," she said, shaking her head as she restarted her heart, and grabbed the binder from her middle shelf. "That's my _father_ you're talking about, thanks. He's like... old, and..."

"He's not _that_ old," she reminded Kelly as the girl slammed her locker, and clicked the lock into place. "And he looks like... ten years younger than he really is. Sorry, but I believe in honesty, and the cold hard truth is that your father is extremely good looking."

"En_ough_!" Kelly cried, her face absolutely horrified as Sarah, her best friend, smiled with amusement. Allison shrugged her shoulders, adjusting her purse strap against her shoulder as they made their way down the hall, towards their third period class. The three of them had math together, which was okay, but Allison had a tendency of speaking awkward and embarassing truths, sometimes. She never seemed to understand that there was a time and a place for everything, and there was never a good time to fantasize out loud about your good friend's father. That was a part of the reason why Kelly never invited Allison over to her house, very much. While she knew that her father was probably considered to be extremely good looking, she did not need her friends coming over and ogling at him from afar.

"Relax, Kel," Sarah said shyly, her voice soft and musical as always. "She's just joking around with you, right Aly?"

Sarah's soft brown eyes fixed on her friend's face, and for a moment, it looked as though Allison might protest, and tell Kelly that she was not joking around at all. They all knew that she had been telling the absolute truth, but for whatever reason, the look in Sarah's eyes made her swallow hard, and push aside her desire to be honest. As they approached their math classroom, Allison nodded, forcing out the tiniest of smiles towards her friend.

"Joking, right," she lied, and Kelly didn't bother to comment on the obvious misinformation. "Sorry, Kelly."

Before either girl could say anything, Kelly's books had fallen to the floor carelessly, and there were strong arms pulling her back up, for she had been falling. It had all happened so fast that none of them really knew what had happened, but when Kelly straightened up, she found herself looking right into the eyes of Jacob Manning, a boy who had transferred into their school during the winter, after he had moved to town a couple of months before. Kelly had never really given him much notice, since they hung around in completely different groups. Actually, Jacob didn't seem to belong to _any_ particular group. He mostly kept to himself, but as she was generally social, she had never really said anything bad against him.

She'd heard people talking about him, though. He wasn't exactly what you would call 'emo', but he was one of those guys who kept to himself. Often, he would come to school with his guitar case slung over his back, and she happened to know that he used the music room in the basement of the school for practice every Tuesday afternoon, because his brother had something scheduled at home on those days. She knew this only because she had been trying to help the assistant principal organize an event the month before, and she'd had to book rehearsal time for the school band- the only other people who really went down there. She had been trying to slot them in for Tuesday afternoon, but the teacher had told her that it was useless- the room _belonged_ to Jacob Manning, on Tuesdays.

Today, like most other day, he wore a black jacket- a rough, almost jean-like material, with a grey cotton hood. The zipper was completely undone, and the name of some random band was splashed across the front of his t-shirt in grey lettering, too messy for her to even attempt reading. His jeans were dark blue, held up by a black and white studded belt.

What stood out the most were his eyes. They were dark blue, she supposed, and perhaps it was the way that the light was hitting him, but to her- they looked almost black. In anyone else, this might have freaked her out, but against his soft black hair, it looked almost natural to see the dark orbs peering at her shamefully.

He looked slightly alarmed as Kelly straightened up, adjusting her pink and white bookbag on her shoulder. His black hair stuck out at the ends as he brushed it away from his face, and when he saw that she had regained her balance, he let her go, clearing his throat awkwardly. Kelly was blushing the deepest shade of red, and she was pretty sure that he could probably hear her heart beating against her chest- it was that loud. She may be a very social girl, but she had inherited her mother's ability to get embarassed in awkward situations. She had never so much as spoken a word to Jacob before, but now here she was, bending down at the same time as him to collect her fallen things.

"I am so, so sorry," she murmered, her voice coming out rushed as she hurried to gather her books together into one pile.

He chuckled, his fingers brushing against her hand accidentally as he gathered a stack of scattered looseleaf into one little pile, placing them on top of the rest of her books. She froze, looking up at him with panicked eyes, and she saw that he was smiling. She felt anger seep through her, and she did her best to fight every last bit of it back. The guy thought she was a complete and total idiot- she could see it in his smile. The way he was looking at her now, was almost as though he was amused by her misfortune- as though he had expected nothing short of this from Kelly Venturi.

"Don't be sorry," was all he said, and she found herself straightening up as quickly as possible, brushing her wavy blonde hair away from her eyes. She was half considering telling him off for being so obvious about his amusement, and her lips pursed together as she struggled to fight her anger back. She was a _good_ person. She didn't say harsh things to people, no matter how much they upset her, right? Her mother had always told her not to call people out on something that she had no proof of, and really, what was the proof that Jacob found her clumsiness amusing? His smile?

She knew it wasn't enough.

Before she could say anything else, Allison was gripping her elbow, and pulling her away from Jacob. He looked slightly taken aback, as though he hadn't even noticed her friends, and Kelly was surprised when Allison stepped forwards, flipping her long black hair over her shoulder, and shaking her head.

"Don't let it happen again," she bit out coldly, and Kelly felt her cheeks go red at yet another display of Allison's outward manner. Jake's face immediately rearranged into his usual demeanor- the look that told everyone to back off, to stay away from him. He always fixed his peers with a look that clearly meant he wanted to be alone, and up until today, she had never witnessed another expression on his handsome features.

Allison, who was the perfect image of someone who had everything under control, placed a hand on her hip, her eyebrows raised as she fixed Jacob with a demeaning stare. Her eyes said everything- he was not welcome around her, or around her perfect little circle of friends, and that was something that Jacob, and the other few students who were watching, seemed to pick up on immediately.

"Um, you can go now," she said coldly, and for a brief moment, Jacob's eyes met with Kelly's. She was standing behind Allison, her head bowed slightly as she tried to hide the fact that she was blushing deeply. She would be lying if she said that she was not ashamed of her friend's reaction towards Jacob. She knew that Allison was only acting this way because Jacob was someone outside of their little group of friends. Allison was just one of those girls that you would see in movies, the kind who belittled any other social group, to make her own stand out on top. And while she may be perfectly comfortable with talking down to the people who were different than her, Kelly really didn't have that sort of heart.

But she also didn't have the mentality to bother defying her friend, so she merely bowed her head, biting her lip as she felt Jacob's eyes boring into the side of her head.

After a moment, he must have given up on Kelly saying anything, because she could no longer feel his eyes on her. Out of the corner of her own vision, she saw Jacob shrug his shoulders, and take off in the other direction, away from the girls. When Kelly raised her gaze to stare after him, she couldn't help but notice that he appeared as though nothing had just happened- as though he was not bothered in the slightest by the little stand-off that had just occured between himself, and the other girl. She squinted after him, watching as he adjusted his bag on his shoulder, and disappeared around a corner.

And then he was gone.

Allison, who was standing there with a hand on her hip, snorted as she turned back to face her friends. She had an amused smile on her face, and she snorted as she gave a jerk of the head towards the direction in which Jake had just gone.

"Can you believe the nerve of that freak?" she asked, and without another word, she had disappeared into the math classroom, where they had been headed before the little situation they had gotten themselves into.

Kelly didn't say a word as she stared after her friend, unable to agree with the way Allison had just handled herself. Sure, Jacob was different, but did that mean that he deserved to be treated like that? It wasn't like he had bumped into her on purpose, or anything.

But even Sarah didn't have anything to say as she gave her friend an awkward shrug of the shoulders, and darted into the classroom before she got issued a detention for being late. Kelly knew that she should probably be doing the same, but before she could take a single step towards the classroom door, a white sheet of paper on the floor grabbed her attention.

Thinking that it was a forgotten piece of her own paper, she bent down to retrieve it. But as her fingers closed around the white sheet of paper, she squinted, and immediately noticed that it was not her own writing. In fact, it was not writing at all, to be specific. Instead of looking at an essay, or a test paper, she found herself staring at what could only be guitar tab- music, that someone had scribbled down with a black pen, almost like a rough draft. She knew immediately that it must have fallen from Jacob's own binder when they'd bumped into each other, and for some reason, she could not bring herself to leave it there. After all, if she had left something behind, she would have wanted him to return it, wouldn't she?

As she remained crouched parallel to the floor, staring at the sheet, Sarah's head suddenly appeared in the doorway. Her tan face was filled with worry as she gave Kelly a pointed look, giving a jerk of the head towards the the classroom behind her.

"C'mon, Kelly- you're gonna be late."

Without another word, she had disappeared into the classroom again, not wanting to get into trouble. Kelly remained frozen for a moment before straightening up, giving the sheet in her hand one last glance.

And as the final bell rang, she stowed the sheet music away in her binder carelessly, and darted through the door.

* * *

**Okay... so I am going to try and find a picture of what the characters should look like, because I know playing with too many OC characters can get a bit confusing. Yes, Jayden and Jeff will be in this story as well! And there WILL be Dasey drama, I assure you. I cannot say how long this will be, though it shouldn't be too long. **

**Once again, I'm sorry for dragging this out further. The idea wouldn't go away, despite my resistance.**

**Special thanks to Tara for helping me out with debugging this, and inspiring names. Thank you. **

**Review, if you want me to continue, or even if you don't.**


	2. Tyler Morgan, Superhottie

**If you want to know what the OC characters in this story look like, visit this link that I have attatched in my profile. It contains links to pictures of the Bennetts, the Venturis, the Myers, and the friends that Kelly and Tara have at school. I tried to match it as best as possible, and if you have any comments or questions on the characters, message me and let me know. The link is in my profile. The tab on the left hand side of the page takes you to the different albums. Message me if you're having trouble. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing,**

**Chapter Two: Tyler Morgan, Superhottie**

There was only one word that came to mind when Casey struggled to find adjectives to describe her day.

Hectic.

Being a writer was difficult enough, especially when you work from home, and can get constantly distracted by just about anything.

Being a writer when you've got your youngest stepsister's five year old for the day...

That's impossible.

"Cookies!"

"There's cookies in the kitchen, Brooke, and I really need to get some work done."

"I wanna make cookies!"

Casey sighed, tapping her fingers impatiently against the side of her work desk as she tried her hardest not to lose her temper with her niece.

"We can make cookies later this afternoon, if I have all of my work finished," Casey said, trying to sound reasonable. "Normally, I'd play with you first, but I've got to email this to my editor by three o'clock, so I need you to behave for a couple of hours. Your mother left some movies upstairs for you to watch. I can stick one of those on for you if you want."

Brooke hesitated, and Casey waited with anxious breath as she prayed for a miracle to occur. Marti must have sensed her daughter's desire to be a nuisance, because she had intentionally shoved about seven DVD's into Brooke's knapsack before she had dropped her off at Derek and Casey's, that morning. It was a rare occasion when Marti asked her brother or stepsister to take the little girl for her, since she usually had a fulltime babysitter hired, but whenever her babysitter was sick, or out of town...

"Cookies!"

Casey groaned, tilting her head back, and thanking the heavens that her children were all old enough to be past this nonsense. It wasn't that she didn't want to spend time with her niece. On the contrary, she would have loved to do these things with Brooke, knowing that those days were long gone with her own children. Getting to hang out with Brooke was almost like a blast of nostalgia, for her, but today was just too hectic to even consider taking a cookie break. If she hadn't promised her editor to have the next section of her work in progress emailed by three, she would be more than glad to play with the girl.

But there was no way that she could avoid this; it was completely necessary.

"I hate that smell."

Casey tilted her head to the side at the new voice, and she was surprised when she saw her husband leaning in the doorway, his eyebrows raised as he grinned at his wife. She figured that he was home for his lunch break, since he would often escape back home if he was not too busy at work, but she still didn't have a sweet clue what he was talking about.

"What smell?" she asked, spinning around in her chair to face him. "What are you talking about?"

Derek pushed himself up out of the doorway, the grin disappearing as he shook his head, almost disapprovingly.

"The smell of nothing cooking," he pointed out, with a jerk of the head towards the kitchen. "I work hard all day, slave my butt off to keep this family happy, and I come home to find you playing on the computer, with no food on the stove. It's lunchtime, Case. Lunchtime means food, and I come home to find that lunch is apparantly a non-existant meal, in Casey-land. No food makes for an empty belly, and an empty belly makes for a very unhappy filmmaker."

Casey raised an eyebrow, fully determined to outdo him, on this one.

"If said filmmaker is working so hard at his job, then said man should be able to buy something on the way over here, so that his wife doesn't have to cook for him at all," she said, shaking her head. "I work too, you know, and I've got Brooke with me for the day."

Derek's eyes suddenly landed on his niece, who had been sitting silently in a beanbag chair on the opposite side of the room, observing her aunt and uncle's conversation. When Derek caught sight of her, he was suddenly grinning, and he dropped his bag on the floor next to the door, extending his arms to her.

"There's my girl," he said, and it only took a moment for Brooke to cross the room and jump into his arms, grinning happily as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Hi Uncle Derek," she greeted as he kissed the side of her head. She didn't give him a chance to respond, before she had pulled back, giving him a serious stare. "Can you make cookies with me? Auntie Casey says she's too busy to make 'em, and Mommy says I'm not s'posed to play with stoves by myself."

"And she's absolutely right," Derek said, grinning as he adjusted her against his hip, and gave Casey a fake disappointed look. "What's wrong with you, Casey? Haven't you heard that all work and no play makes for a very dull Casey?"

She grimaced, giving him a dirty glare as she folded her arms across her chest, unamused.

"Very funny," she deadpanned, shaking her head. "I've got a deadline, Derek. I was actually going to ask you if you could... um, take her for the afternoon?"

Derek immediately opened his mouth to protest, but she rushed on, shaking her head pleadingly.

"Please, Derek," she begged, trying to put on her best desperate look. "I need to get this piece emailed off by three, and Brooke's completely bored sitting here with me. Any other day I'd do whatever she wanted, but today is just way too hectic. You've brought Brooke to work before- she loves it there."

Derek looked as though he wanted nothing more than to say no, but before he could even open his mouth, Brooke had jumped out of his arms. She was grinning as she looked up at her uncle, tossing her pigtail over her shoulder happily.

"I'm gonna go get my camera to bring with me," she said, clearly excited. "Mommy bought me a 'sposable one, 'cause she says I'd break a real one."

Derek could only assume this meant his sister had bought her daughter a disposable camera, but he had no time to question it. She was racing up the stairs before he had even processed her statement, and when they heard the door at the top of the basement stairs slam, Derek turned to Casey, who was now standing in front of him. She was shooting him an apologetic look, trying her best to act innocent, but Derek only returned this look with a glare, shaking his head.

"You did that on purpose," he accused, and she raised an eyebrow innocently, as though she had no idea what he was talking about. "Don't give me that look. You said that because you knew she'd get excited, and you knew I wouldn't turn her away, once she got hyped up about it. That's low, Case- real low."

Casey's pout disappeared, and she rolled her eyes, knowing that the innocent act was useless. Derek could see through her by now, and lying would get her nowhere.

"Okay, so maybe I did, but I really need your help today," she begged, trying her sweet voice instead. She reached up to wrap her arms around his neck, and she drew him closer. She saw his eyes soften, and she knew that he didn't stand a chance, anymore. Once she pushed the right buttons, he was like putty in her hands, and she could get him to do just about anything she wanted. She would win this one, she just knew it. Being a woman of a whipped man definitely had some advantages.

"Please, baby?" she cooed, smiling sweetly at him. "The last time I was late on my deadlines, my editor freaked out at me, and you know I don't handle stress very well."

Derek squirmed uncomfortably as he placed his hands as gently as possible against her hips, frowning.

"I know you don't, but I really-"

"And you know how much stress affects my writing," she said, an edge of sadness to her voice. "I got writer's block for a month the last time I got stressed out like that. You wouldn't want that now, would you?"

The torn look on Derek's face was priceless, and she knew that he was so close to giving up, and letting her win. She almost felt bad for taking on such a weak opponent, but there was no room for guilt in serious matters such as these.

"I guess I wouldn't want you to... to get stressed, or... or get blocked up... but I really-"

"I don't like people getting mad at me," she reminded him, ready to push the final buttons and defeat him. "It makes me really sad. You wouldn't want me to be sad, would you?"

He was shaking his head, and no words left his mouth. She knew that, if he were to speak, he would be giving in, and she knew that that was precisely why he was refusing to answer her at this point- he had nothing left to say but yes, and that was his very problem. He was way too whipped to even bother fighting with her when she acted sad, even if he knew it was just that- acting.

And all she had to do after that was lean forwards, and touch her lips very gently to his. She had barely kissed him when he pulled back, his eyes flying open, and his hands moving from her waist immediately. She smirked when she saw the torn look on his face, knowing that he wanted nothing more than to keep on kissing her, but knowing that he knew he could not do that.

"Okay, alright- I'll do it!" he cried, ignoring the victorious grin that spread across her face. "If you start doing _that_, neither one of us will leave this basement, and absolutely no work will get done at all! God woman, you're like some sort of... some sort of ticking time bomb, and you're set to destruct."

Casey grinned, and gripped the back of his head. She pulled him in for one more kiss, and she could feel how annoyed he was that he had given in so quickly, just like that. She knew how much he hated being defeated- by a girl no less. He believed it showed weakness, to be as whipped as he was, and at the same time, he fully understood that he was about as whipped as they came. There was absolutely nothing he would not do for Casey, or for his daughters, and however much it annoyed him, he would always give into whatever they wanted.

"I'm going upstairs to make myself some food," he muttered, once she had released him. He was pouting- something that she found to be absolutely adorable. As he walked away, she could see him shaking his head, and muttering under his breath about her.

"Women, what do they know?" she heard, and she bit her lip to keep from laughing at him. "Least she could do is make me a bit of food."

"Love you too, _sweetheart_," she teased, and an angry grunt was the only reply she received to her mockery. Before she could say anything more, he had gone upstairs, and the sound of the door closing shut echoed throughout the basement. She sighed, smiling faintly as she turned back to the computer screen in front of her. Now that Derek had Brooke for the day, she could probably get some real work done. Writing was alot easier when you did not have a five year old bouncing around you, demanding cookies or playtime or attention.

Yeah, there were times when she was definitely grateful she was past that stage with her own kids. Marti was going to have alot of fun, over the next few years.

- - - -

"And so now my sister thinks it's perfectly suitable for her to ask for a _car_ for a graduation gift," Tara said bitterly, pulling her locker open almost violently. "I mean, come on- isn't it enough that she practically bribed my father into getting her a digital camera for her birthday, _and _a new IPOD? What's next, a house?"

"Look at it this way," Dylan said, tilting his head back against his own locker as he waited for Tara to be ready. "At least if she gets a house, you won't have to share the bathroom with her anymore. I'm not so sure how much more I can take of this whole sibling rivalry. I can't imagine what it must be like to _live_ with you guys. Honestly, I can't blame your brothers for moving out as quick as they did, when they graduated. You two are monsters, when you get like this."

Tara grimaced at her friend, annoyed with him for siding against her, on this one.

"Thanks Dylan- love you too," she teased, and he rolled his eyes as she grabbed her binder, and slammed her locker. They started walking down the hall, and he stuck his hands in his pockets as he shrugged his shoulders, trying not to spark anymore anger from her.

"All I'm saying is that- if you guys can't get over this whole fighting and bickering thing, maybe it's _best _that she moves out, when she graduates."

"Yeah, but... wait, why are we even talking about Kelly moving out?" she asked, confusion flickering across her face as she shook her head at her friend. "All I said was that she was probably getting a car for graduation- I was only joking about the house thing. But if my parents actually give in and buy her a car-"

"-she'll be gone out more, and you won't have to put up with her," Dylan said, and she had to curse him for always looking at the positive side of things. "And I really can't stand anymore of your sister drama today, so can we just drop it? We've got more important things to talk about."

Tara did not want to drop the subject at all- on the contrary, she wanted to rant until the air in her lungs was completely gone. But she knew that it was unfair of her to take out all of her frustrations on poor Dylan Cooley. They had known each other for years, and he was her best guy friend. They had met back in their second grade class, when they had been forced to be gym partners. They had immediately hit it off, and Dylan had been hanging around with Tara and Leah ever since then. Since Leah was a grade behind them, they were in different schools so it was always just Dylan and Tara, at school.

"Fine," she breathed out, giving into her friend's desire to change the topic. "What do you want to talk about, then?"

A grin flickered across Dylan's face, and he reached up to push his red and black tuque a bit further up his forehead, so that his blonde hair was no longer pushed into his eyes. He adjusted the strap on his bookbag, and flashed her a handsome smile as he shrugged his shoulders, obviously in a good mood.

"The weekend," he told her, and she raised an eyebrow, waiting expectantly. "A bunch of us are getting together Friday night and watching a few movies, going for a swim... you know, that sort of thing. You're welcome to come along, if you want."

Something in his tone of voice made Tara suspicious, and she couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him, searching for some hint of trickery.

"Who did you say was going?" she questioned again, and when he cringed, she knew immediately what he was hiding. This happened more often than she would like to admit, and she knew full well that she would not be going with her friends on Friday night. She knew who Dylan had avoided mentioning when he had explained this to her, and there was no way she would go if said person was there.

"You know," he muttered, scratching his forehead as he tried his best to sound offhanded about all of this. "Me and Jimmy are gonna be there. Brittany said she might come along, and she'll probably bring Evan with her- those two are attatched at the hip these days."

She rolled her eyes at the mention of Brittany, a girl in her math class who she was sort of friends with. Brittany's style was way outside her comfort zone, and it was almost like she belonged more with Kelly's group than with hers, but it was her boyfriend who kept her in contact with Tara's friends. Most of the guys that Tara hung around with were jocks, skateboarders, and what you might even consider to be cool. Her group was not nearly as popular as Kelly's, but they were _known_. Hanging around with them made her more than just 'Jay, Jeff and Kelly's kid sister', which had stuck with her all throughout middle school. Here, she had a place, and while she was definitely considered less popular than her sister, she wouldn't trade it. She had a decent place at their chool, and she got to hang out with people she liked. Nothing got better than that.

"Of course Brittany will bring Evan," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Evan's one of your good friends- but I sense you're avoiding something."

He looked away, his cheeks red with guilt- this did nothing to evade her suspicion, and she rolled her eyes as she nodded towards him knowingly.

"Tell me," she said, already knowing the answer. "Who else is going?"

"Well, you- hopefully," he said, clearing his throat awkwardly as he came to the end of his explanation. "And of course, you can bring Leah along with you- wouldn't be the same without her."

He was blushing now, and his face was scrunched up slightly as he scratched the back of his neck, doing the best he could to avoid rhyming off the last name on his little list. She knew full well who he was going to say last, and she gave him a knowing smirk, her eyebrows raised with amusement.

"Go on then, Dylan," she teased, refraining from laughing at the look on his face. "Tell me. There's got to be at least one other person, right?"

He shot her a dirty look, and she couldn't stop the laughter, this time. She knew that he hated when she saw through what he usually considered to be a good cover, but he should have gotten used to it by now. She could see right through just about anybody, and she was not someone who could be lied to easily. He was going to have to fess up, and as he looked her right in the eye, he seemed to catch onto that fact.

Sighing, he rearranged his face into something of a cold demeanor, and he shrugged his shoulders as they came to a stop at the stairwell. They sat down on the top of the stairs, sitting to the side so that they would not disturb anyone trying to get downstairs during the busy lunch-hour rush.

"Alex is going, okay?" he admitted, wrapping his arms around his knees as he stared darkly straight ahead of him, at nobody in particular. "He was actually the one to ask us all over there, and nobody else has got a problem with him. His parents are going to be gone out for the night, and his sister has a party to go to, so he figured it wouldn't be so bad if we all came over for a couple of hours, you know?"

He was giving her a hopeful look, as though he actually thought he stood a chance of convincing her into coming along. His eyes were actually pleading, to the point that she almost felt bad for saying no to him. Dylan had a way to con just about anyone to doing what he wanted them to do, but he should have known that his lost-puppy dog look rarely worked on her. She had grown up in a house where each and every one of her siblings, not to mention herself, could get what they wanted from their father by using a very similar look. Because of this, she could not bring herself to feel truly sorry for him for something she did herself, at times.

"Sorry Dyl," she sighed, slinging her black and pink knapsack over her shoulder, and pushing herself up off the stairs. Dylan stared up at her hopefully, but she shook her head, giving him an apologetic smile as she held her hands up innocently.

"I'm not going."

Without another word, she had taken a step down towards the next floor, but his hand closed around her wrist almost immediately. She rolled her eyes, trying to tug her wrist from his grip, but he would not allow himself to release her. She knew how badly he wanted her to go, and she knew that this was not going to be the last she heard of this conversation, today. Dylan could put up a very convincing argument, but then again, so could she.

"Come on, Tara," he said, his voice slightly annoyed as he shook his head at her. "You of all people should get along with Alex. Your families are like... good friends, aren't they?"

Tara gave him a weird look, wanting to laugh bitterly at such a false statement. Clearly, Dylan had no idea what he was talking about, when it came to this.

"Friends, right," she mocked, shaking her head. "My mother is really good friends with his father, but our dads cant stand each other. My brother wouldn't tell me anything about it, and the rest of us are too young to remember, but he said that it got so bad once that our fathers got into fistfights, and stuff. I mean, I'm not saying that it's my reason for hating Alex, but you're wrong in saying that our families are good friends. My parents are best friends with his aunt and uncle, but that's about it. If we put my father and his father into a room, I'm not sure if either one of them would make it out alive."

She paused, thinking hard before she frowned, looking slightly puzzled.

"Come to think of it, my brother hates Ryan too," she noted, but shrugged, brushing it off as unimportant. "Whatever- it doesn't matter. Point is, I don't have to like Alex, and I most definitely don't have to like him because our parents are somehow connected. And I'm _not_ going over to his house on Friday- my dad would probably freak anyway. He gets all moody whenever my mother so much as drives over there to pick my sister up from Amy's. It's better if I just make other plans, alright?"

Dylan gave a defeated sigh, dropping her wrist as he stood up next to her. He was a good five inches taller than her, and she found herself looking up at him with confusion as he gave her a nod, as though he was giving into her demands. She knew that this was not the case, and he must have a trick or two up his sleeve. And indeed, when he spoke up after a moment, she could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

"That's okay then- you don't have to go," he said, shrugging his shoulders carelessly. She gave him a weird look, and he slung an arm around her shoulders, leading her slowly up the stairs.

"I can't pretend like Tyler won't be disappointed," he sighed, and there was the tiniest hint of amusement in his voice as Tara's eyes snapped up to meet his. He pretended like he had not noticed her reaction to her crush of a little over a year, and he sighed grinning as they walked into their math class.

"He was asking about you the other day," he said, giving a quick nod towards Tyler, who was sitting in the back of the classroom, joking around with a few of his friends. Tara glanced nervously over her shoulder, and she watched as Tyler's eyes travelled from Dylan, to her. She cursed herself for letting him affect her like this, but she felt her cheeks growing steadily darker with blush as he gave her a cool nod of the head, a little half smirk forming on his lips. Her mouth fell open slightly, and she felt her throat close off with what could only be shock. When she didn't respond in any form, Tyler frowned and shrugged his shoulders, before turning back to his friends, and laughing along with whatever they were talking about.

"Earth to Tara," Dylan said, giving her a playful shoulder shove as he made his way past her, taking his seat in the back of the room, on the opposite side of the room from Tyler. Tara only stared at her crush for another moment, before shaking her head, glancing down at her best friend. He was smirking up at her, and he raised his eyebrows playfully as she took a seat in front of him, leaning back against the wall casually.

"You might wanna wipe your mouth," he pointed out, his voice teasing. "-I think you're drooling."

A tiny gasp escaped her lips, and she smacked her friend's shoulder playfully. She knew that he was lying, and that he was only saying that to get her angry, but it annoyed her when he made fun of her stupid little crush on Tyler Morgan. If it were up to her, he would've never found out about her obsession with the boy, but he had caught sight of her scribbling Tyler's name inside of a heart, during one of their history classes a few months before. He hadn't let up with the teasing ever since, and it was't uncommon for him to blackmail her, and jokingly say he was going to tell Tyler everything. She knew he would never really do that, but it freaked her out nonetheless.

"Shut up about that, okay?" she said quietly, glancing at Tyler out of the corner of her eye. He was looking away, but she still felt annoyingly paranoid about the whole thing. "He might overhear you, or something."

Dylan rolled his eyes, flipping his binder open to his notes, but he chose to say nothing as the teacher walked by him, her eyebrow raised knowingly.

"I assume you've got your homework done, if you have time to chat with Ms. Venturi?" Mrs. Henderson asked, and before he could say a word, she had gripped the top of his hat, and yanked it from his head. His blonde hair was long and shiny, but when it had been covered by a hat for half the day, he looked pretty humorous. The class seemed to think so too, for they laughed in unison as Dylan blushed, and pulled the hat back on over his head, scowling.

"Hands off the tuque," he muttered, shooting their math teacher a dirty glare. "And I'm allowed to talk before class."

"And your homework?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. Dylan blinked at her, and she sighed, looking amused. "Let me guess. Aliens invaded your house last night, and took your paper back as proof? Or was that last week's excuse? Did your dog eat your homework again, Mr. Cooley?"

Dylan grinned, winking at her as he sat back in his seat as though he owned the place. He raised an eyebrow suggestively, sighing.

"Glad you understand, Mrs. H," he said, and the class giggled as he closed his eyes, relaxing against the back of the wall.

Mrs. Henderson did not look amused, and she raised her eyebrow disapprovingly as she nodded her head, looking satisfied all of a sudden.

"And I'm glad you understand that you have detention this afternoon," the teacher said, taking a step backwards. "This classroom, three o'clock. Be there, and bring your math books- you'll be completing the assignment that your dog so unfairly digested, last night."

Tara bit her lip to refrain from laughing at the horrorstruck look on Dylan's face, and the class laughed as Mrs. Henderson strode back down the aisle, already rambling on about how they would be starting systems of equations, that day. When Dylan opened his eyes, and saw the look on Tara's face, his eyes narrowed suspiciously into a glare. She was smiling, and he shook his head, picking up his blue pen off the desk in front of him, and pointing it towards her threateningly.

"Not a word," he muttered, glaring. "And by the way, you are _so_ going over to Alex's house on Friday night, whether you like it or not. I know you're not going to let Tyler down."

Out of the corner of her eye, she snuck a glance at the curly-haired boy sitting across the room from her, and her entire body tensed when she saw that he was leaning against the wall, smirking at her. He must have caught sight of her looking, because he winked, his smirk growing even wider. She felt her cheeks go red, and she quickly turned away, pulling her binder down into her lap so that she could at least pretend to be following along. She didn't need to wind up in detention with Dylan.

But her mind was far from math equations, and deep in the depths of her mind, she understood that Dylan was right. No matter how much she hated Alexander Bennett, she knew that she would be hanging out at his house Friday night. Sure, Tyler made her unbearably nervous, but when it came down to it, she wanted to go. If Dylan had already told Tyler she would be going, she couldn't just _not_ show up, right? What if she didn't show up, and he assumed it was because of him? He might suspect that she got too nervous around him, and she knew that she couldn't have him thinking that more than he probably already did.

She sighed, tilting her head back against the wall, and closing her eyes.

Okay, so she would be going to Alex Bennett's place, on Friday.

- - - -

Dinnertime was always hectic, at the Venturi household. When the boys had been living at home, it had been almost impossible to find a meal that the six of them could agree on. Sometimes, Casey would just put out a few things at a time, and allow them to choose their own plate of food. With four kids, and a very food-obsessed husband, it had been a struggle to settle on one particular meal, that they could all enjoy.

But with the boys both living on their own, dinnertime was more of a manageable event, for Casey. Sure, it was still hard at times, since Kelly was a very picky eater, but she could usually find at least one thing that they could all agree on, without too much of an argument.

Today, she had settled for lasagna, something that they all enjoyed. Jeff had shown up for supper tonight, claiming that he couldn't handle anymore of his roommate's home cooking. He lived with his good friend, Jeremy, and they knew that he had a hard time adjusting to someone else's cooking. Casey was an excellent cook, and after years and years of her amazing home cooking, it was obvious that it was a difficult transition, for him to get used to some random guy cooking pizza pockets and baked potatoes, every night.

"Thank god," he muttered, as he stuffed a mouthful of lasagna into his mouth. "_Real_ food. If I had to take another night of his three cheese pizza pockets, and leftover McDonald's frenchfries from his work... I think I would've gone into some sort of a nutrition-deprived coma."

Casey's eyes flickered nervously to his, and Jeff cringed, looking down at his plate again. He knew that it had been an awkward choice of words, and that revisiting something so traumatic to his family's past had not been the best of ideas. He noticed that his father was fixing him with a pointed look, and he sighed, glancing back at his panicky mother.

"Right," he said, sighing as he spooned another pile of lasagna onto his fork, and shaking his head. "Poor word choice- sorry, Mom."

Casey nodded her head, turning back to her plate, but Derek could sense that she was tense. Reaching under the table, he placed his hand against her thigh, trying his best to calm her. He felt her relax very slightly, and some of the panic in her eyes slipped away as she placed her hand on top of his, squeezing gently. A gentle smile touched his lips, and he turned his hand over, slipping his fingers through hers gently. He was always relieved to know that his touch still calmed her, and he found himself feeling much happier as he looked up at his daughters, raising his eyebrows.

"Any plans for the weekend yet?" he asked them, and Kelly rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"It's only Monday, Daddy," she reminded him, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Why would we have plans for the weekend so early?"

Tara shrugged her shoulders, leaning back as she took a sip of her lemonade, trying to act casual.

"I've already got plans," she mentioned, and she wanted to laugh at the way Kelly's eyes narrowed at her, then. She always loved it when she was slightly ahead of Kelly in the social world, and when she had plans before Kelly did for a Friday night, it was definitely a big deal.

"_You've _got plans?" she asked doubtfully, a definite note of worry in her voice. "With who, Leah?"

"Kelly," Derek warned, sensing a degrading tone in her voice, but both girls ignored their father as Tara smirked, shaking her head.

"Leah will be there too, but I'm going over to Alex's house," she said smugly, knowing this would get her sister jealous. It wasn't that her sister had any interest in Alex whatsoever- she wasn't really into younger guys, even if half of her grade thought the younger Alex Bennett was absolutely desireable. But the idea that her younger sister was hanging out with one of the most desireable guys known to their school would really get to Kelly, and she knew it.

Derek, however, had tensed upon the mention of the boy, and Casey had to squeeze his hand to keep him from shaking as his eyes narrowed. There was a definite note of panic in his voice as he frowned, giving his daughter a panicked look.

"Alex Bennett?" he questioned, and when Tara nodded, he shook his head, scowling. "You'll do no such thing, Tay. You're not going anywhere near that Bennett boy. You know just as well as I do that he's bad news. Besides, I thought you hated him."

"I do," she assured her father, who relaxed slightly at her reassurance. Casey gave Derek a look that clearly told him to relax- Alex wasn't Ryan, and he needed to learn to stop holding grudges against an innocent teenage boy. But however calm Casey may have appeared, even she had her concerns. She knew how manipulative Ryan could be, and therefore, she knew that Alex had learned from the very best of the best. She had heard the stories that circulated around Tara and Kelly's group of friends. The boy was fourteen, and he had already dated a larger portion of the girls in her daughter's highschool. She knew full well that the boy had probably surpassed sex long ago, and that getting with another girl wouldn't be that big of a deal to him.

But she knew that right now, her daughter hated Ryan's son. She was not dense, like Derek. Derek seemed to be under some crazy impression that Tara could never fall for Alex Bennett's seemingly irresistable charm, and that the hatred brewed in him had been genetically passed onto his daughter. She knew full well that anything could happen, and that stranger things had happened. Tara was a teenage girl, and Alex was a very desireable teenage boy. She would not rule anything out, like her husband was trying to do.

"Look, Dylan just asked me to come along with a bunch of friends, and they're all going to Alex's," she said, trying to make her father understand that this was not a matter of wanting to hang out with Alex. This was a matter of her hanging out with her friends, who just so happened to be hanging out with one of the people she could not stand. She thought of what Tyler might think if she did not show up, and she frowned, giving her father a hesitant look.

"You're not going to stop me from going, are you, Daddy?" she asked, giving him a hurt look. "I told my friends I'd go with them, and they'd be pretty disappointed if I didn't show up."

Casey shot Derek a meaningful look, and she saw the same look in his eyes that had been there that morning, when she had been tricking him into taking Brooke to work, for the afternoon. She wanted to laugh at how weak he could be, when it came to his girls, and she watched as Jeff rolled his eyes, looking away from his father with disappointment. Every last one of them knew that Derek didn't stand a chance, and it wasn't surprising when Derek reluctantly forced a smile, shaking his head at his daughter.

"No, baby girl- you go and have a good time," he said, and Casey could hear how hard this was for him. "You... uh, you give my best to his mother, okay?"

"And to Ryan," Casey added, and Derek stared darkly at his food, his eyes narrowed. She wasn't worried until she felt his hand slip out of hers, and she watched with worry as he rested the hand in question against the table, leaning away from her slightly. She wanted to roll her eyes at this action, but she knew better than to start anything. Derek had no problems with Melanie, Ryan's wife, but he definitely had reservations about Casey so much as speaking to Ryan. It was an unwritten rule that she was not allowed to be in the same room alone with him, and she had stuck with this over the years, fully understanding that Derek had every right in the world to ask this of her. She had given him a reason not to trust her, and it was understandable that she was not allowed in the same room as him, without anyone else there. She would probably react the same if Derek had done such a thing to her.

Tara refrained from mentioning that Alex's parents weren't going to be there, for she knew that her parents knew exactly what kind of guy Alex was. While she would never fall for his charms, she didn't know if her father would be so trusting of having her unsupervised in the same house as Alexander Bennett. She knew that he would disapprove, and she decided that it would be best not to mention the fact that they would have the house to themselves, on Friday.

"Sure," she said, nodding her head as she forced a smile. "I'll be sure to do that, Daddy."

He merely smiled at her, and Kelly smirked, leaning forwards as she raised an eyebrow at her younger sister.

"I thought Amy mentioned to me that her parents were going out of town this weekend," she questioned, and Tara's eyes widened as she looked up at Kelly, trying to be discrete about shaking her head. Kelly ignored this protest, and she shrugged her shoulders, glancing at her mother and father.

"Seems to me like Alex is throwing this little get-together without supervision and... well, I'm sure you don't need me to fill you in on what sort of an influence Alex could have on poor, uncorrupted little Tara."

Kelly was smirking at her sister, and Tara was returning said smirk with a glare, her eyes filled with anger. She understood that this was Kelly, and this was the sort of thing they pulled on each other, but really- did she have to be such a little sneak? Sometimes, having a sister who was friends with someone in her circle got very annoying. She hadn't been aware that Kelly knew the Bennetts would be going out of town this weekend, but if she had, she would have never brought it up in front of her.

Casey was eyeing her youngest with a suspicious glance, and Derek looked like he might explode, if he were anymore stressed out. She knew that thoughts of mistrust and unsupervised teenage activity were bouncing around in his head right about now, and she knew that she was dangerously close to having his permission taken away. She knew that, regardless of who's house she was hanging out at this weekend, she could not bail on Tyler, and it was that determination that must have shone in her eyes, because her older brother caught on immediately. As Tara squirmed in her seat, suddenly unsure of what to say, Jeff spoke up. His forehead was creased as he stared down at his plate, swallowing a mouthful of lasagna.

"Actually, I heard about that today," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I was talking to Kevin," he lied, referring to Cole and Kallie's only son, who was away at university with his sister in British Columbia. "He said that his aunt and uncle were supposed to be going out there to visit, but they had to cancel at the last minute. Turns out, Kevin had some big basketball tournament this weekend, and uh... he didn't think it would be fair, to stick them by themselves all weekend. They rescheduled for sometime next week."

This was a blatant lie, and Tara was pretty sure that Jeff had not been talking to Kevin Myers at all, no matter how good of friends the two of them were. She could tell when her brother was lying, and apparantly, so could Kelly. Her eyes were fixed on her older brother threateningly, and Tara knew that she was angry with Jeff for siding with Tara, on this one.

But despite how quickly her parents bought this lie, and despite the fact that Jeff had sided with her, the look that he gave her signalled that this was not over- they would be talking about this. Her parents quickly bought Jeff's little story, and returned to their dinner, but as she squirmed under the look Jeff was giving her, she was suddenly faced with a whole new problem.

She knew Jeff was not pleased with this- not at all.

* * *

**Review with thoughts, questions, and let me know if you think I should continue this! I want to make sure you guys are interested. Thanks. Remember to check out the pictures. **


	3. Keep Dreaming

**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine. **

**Chapter Three: Keep Dreaming**

For Kelly Venturi, the week usually flew by before she could even bat an eyelash. She was kept so busy with her studies, and her extra-cirricular activities that she was always surprised to find that the weekend came so quickly each week. She was head cheerleader and student council president, and as queen of the school's social ladder she was fully expected to mingle with different groups of her friends. With friends and family drama thrown into the mix, the weekend usually came without any agonizing or clock-watching.

So she was pretty surprised to look up at the clock on the wall of her history classroom and see that it was only twelve fourteen on Tuesday afternoon. She had forced herself through her first three periods, but history was becoming unbearable. It was bad enough that she had to learn about events that had taken place decades ago, but her history teacher had a strict policy of alphabetical seating arrangements. She was in the very back of the last row, something that she wouldn't normally mind. Being in the back usually had it's advantages; she could chat or pass notes without being caught by any of her teachers.

But during her fourth period history class, the last thing she wanted to be doing was passing notes or chatting. The guy in front of her was a complete math geek, and he always had a stale sort of scent that reeked off of him. She could usually fight this off by applying a little extra perfume before class to fight off the odor. But there was absolutely no way of fighting off the girl who sat to her immediate right day in and day out. Everytime she entered the classroom, she felt like cursing her teacher for having such nerve as to seat her next to the biggest social outcast of all, in her mind.

Tara Venturi.

Sure, the rest of the school seemed to be okay with her annoying kid sister, but none of them had been forced to live with her for the past fifteen years. None of them knew how annoying she could be when she didn't get her way, or how impossible it was to try and get to a bathroom in the mornings, if Tara got there first. Nobody in their school seemed to realize that being Tara Venturi's sister wasn't exactly all fun and games. They may all believe that she wasn't actually all that bad, but Kelly knew otherwise. To Kelly, Tara would always be the annoying little sister that she would never quite get along with, and there was nothing anyone could to to change that view, in her opinion.

Today's class seemed to be dragging on forever. They were discussing Stalin and the purges- something that they had already touched on in basic social studies, back in junior high. Kelly had always been good at history and english, while Tara seemed to excel more in math and science. Both girls had straight A's, but they always required a bit of extra work in opposite subjects. Kelly was just better at writing and remembering dates, while Tara liked applying rules and conditions to experiments and equations. It was never a big deal for them that they each possessed completely different types of intelligence, because it was really just one more thing that they did not have in common.

Kelly had her binder open, and she was drawing little hearts on a random piece of paper. She circled each one with blue ink, and was colouring the insides in with her pencil, when she heard her sister whisper something next to her.

"Taking up music as a hobby?"

Kelly was about to question her when she noticed that Jacob's sheet music was sticking out of her binder, right behind the sheet she was currently doodling on. She had not spotted him yet today, something that she was grateful for. She wasn't all that sure if she even _wanted _to come face to face with the guy, to be honest. Jacob was just so different than she was. Everytime she thought about their little meeting the day before, she could not help but remember how awkward she had felt standing in front of him. It was like he was this cool and collective musician who had it all figured out, and she was... well, she was Kelly. She was smart and popular, not to mention well rounded and confident, but there was just something about him that made her feel awkward in his presence.

Despite her feelings towards the mysterious musician, she knew that she had to return his music to him whether she liked it or not. She could always pretend like she had never found it at all, and just throw it in the garbage when she got home. But somehow, the idea of throwing out someone else's hard work seemed wrong to her. She knew how seriously he took his talent, and anyone with eyes could see that music was the must important thing in his life. Picturing all of the time and effort he must put into his music made it very hard for her to even consider throwing the sheet out.

She knew that she would have to decide this soon, or else Jacob would question why she had held onto his song for so long. She didn't want him thinking that she was as horrible as Allison had treated him, and at the same time, she would be embarassed to face him after what her friend had said to him. She knew that she had alot of thinking to do, but right now was not the time to do it. She had to concentrate on her classes, and more importantly she needed to get her sister off her back.

Stuffing the sheet of music into her binder completely, she leaned back against her chair, her beautiful features pulled into a bitter scowl. Folding her arms across her chest, she shot a glare at her unsuspecting sister.

"It's really none of your business what I do, _sis_," she said coldly, shaking her head. "And besides, when was it _your _hobby to poke around in my business? Last time I checked, we were still going by our whole... 'live and let live' policy, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember," Tara hissed back, shooting furtive glances towards the front of the class to ensure the teacher was not listening. When the coast was clear, she turned back to her older sister, her expression smug.

"I _also_ remember how quick you were to inform our father that I'd be going to Alex's house unsupervised, on Friday night," she noted, quick on the uptake. "If you can poke around in my business, I can poke around in yours. I have every right in the world to fight just as dirty as you."

Kelly rolled her eyes, disgusted with her sister's obvious attempt to turn this around on her. If there was one thing Tara loved, it was making her sister out to be a hypocrite, and that was something that Kelly had never stood for before. She didn't let anyone get away with labelling her something she wasn't, and this would not be any different.

"Where do you get off calling me a hypocrite?" she asked, shaking her head. "I can't count the number of times that _you've_ ratted _me _out about some party I went to, or the number of times you've _suggested_ to Dad that I might not be in my room, all those times I snuck out. Face it, _sis_- you're just as determined as I am when it comes to getting each other in trouble. I'm sure it will only be a matter of days before you get me back for the whole Alex thing anyway. Relax- Dad's still going to let you go to your boyfriend's."

This earned a jaw drop from Tara, and Kelly was immediately faced with the wrath of her younger sister's anger.

"Alex is _not_ my boyfriend," she defended, her face horrorstruck as she stared at her sister. "I can't even _stand_ the guy, let alone _date_ him. Have you lost your mind?"

Kelly shrugged, fixing her eyes to the front of the classroom again to give the teacher the impression that she was listening. When she saw that their conversation had still gone unnoticed, she continued to whisper out of the corner of her mouth, to be inconcspicious.

"Well I just figured you'd be dating him, since you're going to his house _unsupervised _and all," she said, as though it were innocent. "I mean, there's plenty of stories floating around these halls about what happens when Alex Bennett brings a girl home unsupervised, right? I should've known that _you'd_ be the exception to the majority though, right? I mean, why would a guy like Alex Bennett ever date a girl like you?"

Tara raised an eyebrow, for some reason annoyed by her sister's choice of words.

"A girl like _me_?" she questioned, trying not to let it show that Kelly was getting to her. "Okay then, describe a girl like _me_, Kelly."

Kelly watched her for a moment, as though she was contemplating whether she should just drop the subject, or carry on with their argument. It was clear that she decided on some sort of median between the two, because in the next moment, she had shrugged her shoulders casually, turning her attention to the front of the room again.

"I don't know why I'm teasing you about Alex Bennett, when the whole school knows you've got a thing for Tyler Morgan," she said, and Tara's eyes widened once more at the realization of just how much her sister knew. Before she could defend herself, or tell her sister to keep quiet, Kelly had turned to her again, her eyes amused and taunting.

"Just a little hint, sis," she noted, raising an eyebrow. "Tyler Morgan? He's way out of your league. The guy's asked me out three times now, if that gives you any hint of the type of girl he dates. Keep dreaming."

Before Tara could say a word, the girls were looking up at their history teacher, who had come to a stop right between their two desks. Both girls blushed, realizing that the teacher had evidently been trying to get their attention for a few seconds now, unnoticed by both of the girls. It was easy to tell that their teacher was nowhere near impressed with either one of them, and her mouth was set into a firm like as she looked back and forth between each girl, a stern expression on her face.

"Girls," she addressed stiffly, raising her eyebrows at them. "You know I do not tolerate talking during class time. Do I have to seperate you two?"

"Please do," Tara spit out bitterly, folding her arms across her chest as she leaned back in her chair. A few snickers sounded around the classroom, and they both knew that nobody was surprised to see another classic Venturi argument broken up by a teacher. Kelly and Tara only shared two classes- gym and history, but it was not uncommon for an argument to break out at least once during every period. It didn't matter if there was anything to fight about or not- they would _find_ something to fight about. Even when they both claimed to steer clear of each other during class time, they would somehow end up at a point where they were down each other's throats over something.

And that was just at school, in public eye. At home, it was a completely different story. When they were under the safety of their own roof, all hell could let loose and they wouldn't know it. At home, there were no limits to how far their anger could go. And the only person who could ever manage to stop them was the master of bickering himself; their father- Derek Venturi.

- - - -

"Der_ek!"_

"Yes, Casey dearest?"

"Don't you _Casey dearest_ me, Venturi," Casey spat out, storming into their bedroom with anger evident in her eyes. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Derek, who had been sitting on the edge of their bed calmly, quickly looked up at his raging wife, an innocent expression plastered across his face. His mouth was set in a little circle, and his eyes were innocent and puzzled as she waited for some sort of an explanation.

Unable to think of anything else, he shrugged his shoulders, clueless.

"Um, I... love you?"

She stared at him for a moment, and he waited with anxiously held breath, just hoping that he had said the right thing. It was a rare occasion when this little trick actually worked, but it never stopped him from trying, nonetheless. He was quite used to Casey storming into their bedroom and accusing him of something, but he had eventually lost track of the things that he had supposedly done wrong.

And on this beautiful morning, like so many others, he appeared to have gotten the wrong answer. The last of his empty hopes quickly faltered away into nothing more than doubt as she glared at him, shaking her head as she folded her arms across her chest.

"Wrong answer," she decided, and he inwardly slapped himself for not monitoring his behaviour better. Whatever he had done, he was sure he would be paying for it very dearly for the rest of the day.

Trying to pay attention, he turned his focus back to his wife's rantings. The last thing he needed was her accusing him of not paying attention to her. She was already angry enough, by the looks of it.

"_How_ could you forget?" she was asking him, as though he were the biggest idiot in the world. "Tell me, because I'm really not understanding here. _How_ could you _forget_?"

Derek racked his brain for the answer to this question, but he had nothing. He had no idea what he had apparantly forgotten, and he knew that it was best to be honest with her, in times like these. If he pretended to know what she was talking about, he would only end up getting tangled in up in lies, and that never worked out for him in the long run. Casey was bound to get angry with him anyway, so he might as well just cut to the inevitable.

"Okay, I'll bite," he offered up, grinning sheepishly as he sat up straight on their bed. "Humour me, baby- because I really have no idea what you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes, and he knew that she was already annoyed with his insane lack of memory for things she would consider _important_. This was not the first time that they'd had this argument, and he knew that it would by no means be the last, either. As long as he was married to her, he would continue to do things that annoyed her, and that was just something that she had gotten used to, over the years. She had developed a very tolerant side for his ignorance, and he had developed a tolerance for her thirst for perfection. But sometimes one of them went a little bit too far, and he knew that it was only to be expected that they would argue over their differences, from time to time.

He watched as she tried her hardest not to freak out completely. Her face was red with rage, and her eyes were already sparkling with that little gleam of anger he loved so much. Her lips were pursed together tightly as she drew in a deep breath, swallowing back the urge to slap him. In times like these, it was obvious that she would have to stoop to Derek's level, and break things down in a way that he could understand them.

"Okay," she began calmly, taking a deep breath as she clapped her hands together. She took a step further into the room, taking deep breaths. "I'll break this down nice and simple for you, baby. Tell me- what day of the week is it; do you know that much?"

Derek nodded his head, smiling innocently at her as she struggled to contain her anger.

"It's Tuesday," he informed her proudly, quite pleased with the spark of anger he had placed in her eyes. "Shall we continue, or am I just here to serve as a calandar?"

The anger in her eyes stirred at this, and he knew that he was wading into dangerous waters. Nonetheless, she decided to ignore his comment, and carry on as though he had not made any sort of joke to her.

"Tell me- on every second Tuesday for the past _eight _years, where have I gone every morning at precisely six o'clock in the morning?"

She was being very specific and proper with her words, something that she only did when she thought he was being an idiot. Still, he was unable to see a connection between her regular Tuesday schedule, and the rage that she was directing towards him. Honestly, why didn't she just come out and say it already?

Just as clueless as ever, Derek shrugged his shoulders, truly not understanding where she was going with this.

"You go to Toronto, to meet with your editor," he said easily, this information boring him. "You take a taxi into Toronto at six, and meet up with your editor for eight. You finish up at around eleven thirty, and then I meet you at twelve to get lunch and drive you back to... _oh_..."

It had finally clicked into place for him, and he wanted to slap himself for not remembering. He did not understand how something so simple and repetitive could have slipped his mind like it had. He had been driving into Toronto at the exact same time every two weeks for the past eight years, now. He would pick up Casey at her editor's office, and they would go out for lunch together, as a small break from the kids, or whatever other issues they were facing back at home. Sometimes they would drop in and see Edwin or Lizzie, and then they'd drive back into London together, just in time to make supper for the kids. Since Derek ran his own company, he made his own schedule, and he always made sure that he would be off on any days that Casey needed to be picked up in London.

Clearly, she had found her own way back home today, because Derek sure as hell hadn't remembered to go and pick her up in Toronto.

Glancing down at his watch, he saw that it was already three thirty. He suspected that she had spent the money to get a taxi back home, something that had quite obviously cost her quite a bit of money. Taxis to and from Toronto were not cheap, which was why she preferred having Derek drive her home.

He stood up on shaky legs, a sheepish grin on his face as he made his way slowly towards his wife.

"Casey... baby..." he started, trying to use his best sweet voice in an attempt to calm her down.

Needless to say, it didn't work out for him very well. Casey merely shook her head, taking a step towards him as she flung her purse down onto the bed behind him. When she fixed her angry eyes upon his own fearful ones, he gulped nervously, knowing he was about to pay, for forgetting something so important.

"I can't believe you _forgot_ me in Toronto," she got out, her voice strained under the anger. "I mean, when you didn't show up at the office, I figured you might've gotten bored and gone on ahead to the restauraunt, which would've been fine by me. It's only a ten minute walk. But imagine my surprise when I walk to the restauraunt, and you're nowhere to be found. Your cellphone was turned off, I couldn't find you anywhere, and I just wasted every penny I had in my wallet so that I could take a taxi home."

His eyes were wide as he watched her coming towards him, slowly backing him up towards the bed. He felt behind him desperately for the mattress, feeling as though he really needed someplace to sit down, so that he could handle this calmly. As his hand gripped the blanket behind him, he thanked the heavens, and took a seat on the edge of the bed. Casey came closer, stopping only when her knees bumped against Derek's. She hovered over him, glaring down at him with an angry gleam in her eyes.

"I'll only ask you this once," she got out, demonstrating a great amount of self restraint to keep from yelling at him. "Where _were_ you today?"

Derek gave a nervous laugh, reaching for her hands as he racked his brain for some sort of an excuse. If it were anyone else, he would have come up with a solid sob story by now, explaining why he hadn't been able to make it to Toronto. But when it came to lying to his wife... well, he was never good at that. Casey could see right through him, and he just didn't have the heart to lie to her, most of the time.

Knowing it was best, he decided to go with the truth.

"Well, uh... you see, what happened was..."

"You forgot, didn't you?"

Yup. She could most definitely see right through him.

Sighing, he gave a defeated nod, squeezing her hands tightly in his so that she could not pull away.

"Yes," he admitted, his tired eyes fixed on hers. "Yes I did. I woke up at around eleven, and I completely forgot about picking you up in Toronto. I'm sorry, and it most definitely won't happen again. Next time, I'll ask Sam to give the girls a ride to school, and I'll bring you to Toronto myself to make up for the taxi you had to pay for. That way, you'll know that I won't forget again, right?"

She was watching him suspiciously, as though she suspected a hidden agenda in Derek's words. He knew that he could not hold her suspicions against her, because he usually did have some sort of motive behind being nice, to this extent. It was a rare occasion when he offered up his own free time and money, just to make up for some sort of mistake.

As he had expected, Casey was not quick to buy into his sudden offer.

"What's the catch here?" she asked, pulling one hand out of Derek's so that she could place it on her hip. She raised one eyebrow with suspicion as she carried on. "Whenever you're nice like this, there's usually some sort of loophole to get through. What's this one going to cost me? What do you want?"

Smirking, Derek reached out far enough to wrap his arms around her waist, pulling her close to him. Her knees bumped against his, and he pulled her down so that she was sitting in his lap, straddling his waist. She had a very mistrusting look in her eyes, but he ignored it as he pulled her face closer to his, trying to ensure that he had her complete and total attention. When he saw that she was looking right into her eyes, he leaned forwards, touching his lips to hers as gently as possible. For a moment, he was sure that she would pull away with disgust, angry with him for even attempting to kiss her in her current state of mind.

But Casey had always been known to surprise him, and she did just that as she tangled her fingers through his hair, and pulled his face closer to hers. He was surprised when he felt her kissing him back, but he was definitely not complaining on the matter. It was a rare occasion when he could stop one of her tirades with just a simple kiss, but today seemed to be an exception to that trend.

He had just started to lie back onto the bed, pulling her with him, when they were interrupted by the phone ringing next to their bed. Derek's lips remained on Casey's, and he shook his head when she tried to pull away. She looked down at him with confused eyes, but he looked at her pleadingly, as though begging her not to pull back.

"Ignore it," he mumbled, his lips brushing hers again gently, as though he were trying to tempt her. "They'll call back."

His hands gripped her waist a little more desperately, as though he were begging her to listen to him, and to let it slide- just this once. But his hopes died away when she rolled her eyes at his immaturity, and let her hands untangle from his hair willingly. He groaned as she got up off of him, and he found himself lying flat on his back against the bed, the palms of his hands pressed against his forehead with frustration. He rather felt that she had to know just how much it killed him when she did things like that. She was famous for getting him worked up, and then completely freezing him out the moment a distraction came along. And obviously, today was no different. He could have sworn he saw the smallest workings of a smirk on her face as she picked up the phone, giving Derek one last shrug.

"Sorry," she apologized, looking like she wanted nothing more than to laugh at his frustration.

Derek merely rolled his eyes at her, obviously annoyed with his own lack of willpower. He shut his eyes to avoid looking at her, and he listened in as she answered the phone, her voice just as cheerful and pleasant as usual. He could not see her, but he could tell by her voice that she was standing somewhere near their bedroom window, which made sense. The endtable where the phone had been was located right next to the window, so he supposed her sudden distance made sense. She was still close enough that he could probably reach out and touch her, but he was not close enough to hear who was on the other end of the line.

Proximity was not necessary though, for within a moment, Casey's voice had spoke up again, even more pleasant and upbeat than it had been moments before.

"Ryan, hi!"

Derek's eyes flew open, and he felt every muscle in his body tense with discomfort at the sound of his worst enemy's name, spilling from his wife's lips.

_Ryan_.

How he absolutely _hated_ that man. The two of them had been unwillingly thrown together several times over the past fifteen years, and one would think that their hatred towards one another would have faded some, over the years. Casey and Melanie had tried their absolute hardest to make something of friends out of the two men, but they were both way too headstrong to forgive and forget. To Derek, Ryan would always be the man that had almost cost him his entire family, and to Ryan, Derek would always be the man who had won one of the only women he had ever really cared about.

But that was all in the past, and even Melanie hadn't been worried about the situation, once Ryan had explained his past to her. Things had been a little bit awkward between the two women for a couple of days, as Melanie adjusted to the fact that Casey had been an option for her husband, at one point. But it was obvious that she trusted her husband, and she trusted Casey. She had quickly moved forward, and had gotten over the troublesome times that her husband had informed her of. She held no grudge against either of them, but it was obvious that the men could not do the same. Derek and Ryan despised each other, and that was something that would seemingly stick with them for the rest of their lives.

Derek had been so caught up in his thoughts that he had tuned out of the conversation, but he was quick to listen in again when he remembered who his wife was talking to.

"That's Ryan?" he questioned, his voice quiet enough so that he would not be heard over the phone. Casey shot him a skeptical look, as though she were afraid of confirming this information to him. The look in her eyes told him everything he needed to know, and he immediately scowled at her, before turning his head back up towards the ceiling. His eyes were dark, and his eyes narrowed into a dirty glare as he brought his arms across his chest pointedly.

"Tell him you can't talk right now," he said angrily, his voice slightly demanding. "He's interrupting a little thing called _quality time_ with your husband."

Casey turned away from him, obviously finding his side comments a little more than immature, and he only grew even more bothered when she carried on with her conversation. This offended him, for it was like he had not even spoken at all.

"Yeah, Ryan?" she questioned, and he obviously responded, because she went on quickly. "Sorry about that. What were you asking me?"

Derek scowled, and he might have done something else to convince her to hang up the phone if his daughter had not appeared in the doorway. A glimpse of light blue flashed against the corner of his eye, and he turned to see Tara standing in her parent's doorway, looking awkwardly between her mother and father. It was obvious that she wanted to talk to one of them, and since Casey was apparantly so busy talking to Ryan, he decided that he would be the one to help his daughter out.

"Tay," he said, pulling himself up off on the bed, so that he could sit on the edge. "Something you want to talk about?"

Tara leaned against the frame of the doorway, biting on her lower lip as she nodded her head. Derek could not help but think that she looked just a little bit nervous, though he could not imagine why. Nothing that he had just said should warrant his daughter being nervous or awkward, right?

But still, he watched as his daughter gave him an apologetic look, nodding her head.

"I sort of wanted to talk to Mom about this... no offense meant," she said, and Derek was slightly taken aback as Tara's eyes flickered hopefully to her mother, who had been listening to whatever Ryan was saying to her. Casey took notice of her daughter's words, and thought for a moment. It wasn't very long before she was nodding her head, sighing as she turned back to the phone call.

"Listen, Ryan?" she questioned, a note of dismissal in her voice. "Can you talk to Derek about this? I'm sure he'll be all for it, and there's something I have to..."

Derek's head had snapped up at this request, and he could only assume that Ryan was also protesting the suggestion, for Casey had trailed off, a frown on her lips. She listened closely to her friend on the other line, before rolling her eyes, annoyed with whatever it was he had said.

"I don't care if you two don't like each other," she said, her eyes fixed on Derek as she spoke, as though this was a message to the both of them. "This isn't about _either_ of you, so just shut up and get along for all of ten minutes, while I go talk to my daughter."

Without another word, she had pressed the phone roughly into Derek's hands, and she she was suddenly fixing him with a pointed stare.

"We'll talk about it later," she said, before storming out of the room with her daughter, leaving Derek more confused than ever. What exactly did she have to talk to him about? Was she angry with him? And more importantly, what exactly was Ryan going to talk to him about, that involved them setting aside their differences?

With a slightly puzzled expression on his face, he raised the phone to his ear, though the action was extremely reluctant.

"Ryan?" he questioned, confused. "Make it quick- because you know I don't want to talk to you. What's this about?"

* * *

**Don't worry, it's nothing majorly serious, but I assure you that it will cause chaos LATER in the story. Also, do not jump into a frenzy over Ryan... making him and Casey have a whole hidden relationship would just be another clone of the last story. And I know that Kelly may seem a bit mean, but I assure you that it's only with Tara. With everyone else, you'll see she's a nice girl. I want fifteen reviews before I continue, if possible, so please drop me a review!**


	4. For Her Own Good

**Disclaimer: Nothing is mine.**

**Chapter Four: For Her Own Good**

Casey was well aware that leaving Derek and Ryan to talk amongst themselves was possibly the worst idea that she could have ever come up with, but at least they were only talking over the phone. The worst they could do with a receiver up to their ears was utter threats towards one another, which she could quickly put an end to by sucking up to Derek somehow. She would never have been stupid enough to leave them together face to face, but she felt somewhat comfortable with the idea of them talking on the phone, with measured distance between their homes.

But she had much more pressing matters on her mind than her husband's petty rivalry with the object of her old affair. It was a rare occasion when Tara asked to speak to her _specifically_. Tara may seem like some sortof tough and independant individual, but she had no problems with coming to either one of her parents when she had a problem. If there was one thing that Casey and Derek had always taught their children, it was that they would never be judged, if they had the courage to step forward with a problem. There were no exceptions to the rules of family, and it had been assured from the very beginning that their parents would be there for them, no questions asked. Sometimes they heard much more than they wanted to hear, but the reward of it all was that there were never any secrets between them, and their children.

But it was never really an issue which parent helped someone out. Normally, they would grab whichever parent was more available at the moment. And back in the bedroom a second ago, it had been Derek who had been obviously free to talk. For Tara to take her mother away for a phone call, just to ask some advice... well, she knew it must be something more serious.

When Tara led her into the room and closed the door, Casey found herself drifting towards the computer desk, where she took a seat at the high-backed chair she found there. Tara perched herself awkwardly at the end of her bed, making sure that she was facing her mother.

The moment they were seated, they fell into a creepy sort of silence, one that suggested to Casey that this was more serious than she had anticipated. Tara was fidgeting slightly, entwining her hands together in front of her over and over again. She could have sworn that there was a slight blush to her daughter's cheeks, but she could not be sure, for it was rather warm out today anyway.

"Tara?" she finally asked, tilting her head slightly to the right. "Something you want to talk to me about?"

Tara looked up, her eyes slightly reluctant and ashamed. This surprised Casey, for there was never anything that their girls could not come to them about. This was most definitely not the Tara Venturi that she was used to dealing with.

But nonetheless, Tara had that Venturi courage in her, and it was that very courage that gave her the strength to pull in a deep breath, and begin with her explanation.

"So here's the thing," she started, her voice already nervous. "See... me and Kelly... we were talking during our history class today, and-"

"And you got detention?" Casey guessed, rolling her eyes as she cut off her daughter's explanation. "Let me guess, you want me to call your teacher and bail you two out again?" There was a pause as Casey shook her head, clearly not willing to budge on this matter.

"Sorry, but you and your sister get into too many arguments during class time for me to even bother defending-"

"Mom!" her daughter cut her off, looking vaguely annoyed. Casey's mouth immediately closed, and she found herself fixing her daughter with a concerned look, as though she really wasn't sure what to think of this.

When her mother was silent, Tara went on.

"I don't have detention, and neither does Kelly."

Casey hesitated, frowning slightly as she nodded her head to show she was listening.

"No detention," she observed, the words foreign to her lips. "That's interesting, to say the least. So if you don't have detention, what's the problem here?"

Tara sighed, before lifting her legs up off of the floor, and crossing them in front of her. She was staring down at her lap awkwardly, as though she had no idea where she should go from here. Casey knew that Tara was definitely the most difficult of their children, when it came to admitting to certain things. There were some issues that she had no problem spilling to her mother and father, but when it came to anything trickier than she could handle... well, sometimes she stressed over how to tell her parents.

"You can tell me anything, and I promise I won't think it's stupid," Casey said, wanting to make sure her daughter knew she had someone to talk to. "I won't even tell anyone else, if you didn't want me spreading it around. I can see that this is hard for you and... well, I just think you should know that you have my word to keep quiet about it."

Tara looked up, her eyes unconvinced and doubtful.

"Even to Dad?" she asked hopefully, and Casey hesitated for a moment, before nodding. She generally told Derek anything and everything, and she knew that he would be questioning her about this the moment she saw him again. But if Tara didn't want her mother to repeat whatever it was she was about to say, then Casey would respect her daughter's wishes and keep her mouth shut. Tara could tell her father when and if she wanted to, and it was not up to Casey to make the decision for her.

So Tara took a deep breath, looking away from her mother quickly. Her eyes lowered to the floor as her cheeks blushed, and she spoke up in a rushed tone.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

The words had come off as rushed and quiet, and Casey hadn't made sense out of anything her daughter had just said. She felt bad for having to make the girl repeat it again, since she knew how hard it had apparantly been the first time, but she had not understood the question in the slightest.

Shifting a little bit closer to her daughter, she offered her warmest smile, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't hear you," she said apologetically, shaking her head. "What was that? In english this time, please?"

Tara blushed furiously, squirming uncomfortably in the office chair. She scuffed her sneaker against the corner of her desk awkwardly, shrugging her shoulders.

"I asked if you... if you think I'm pretty?" she repeated, sounding even more embarassed than she had the first time. Casey fully expected her daughter to fall silent and wait for a response, so she was surprised when her daughter turned blood red in the face, and turned away from her completely, facing the computer.

"You know what? Never mind. It was probably really stupid of me to even ask, and-"

"Whoah, Tay," Casey interrupted her, frowning as she leaned forwards and gripped her daughters elbow. She turned Tara back to face her, and she immediately felt bad for the fifteen year old girl sitting in front of her. How awkward it must feel, to be stuck in those uncomfortable years of adolesence and insecurity. Casey could still remember that feeling as though it were yesterday, and she knew better than to try and talk her daughter out of her crazy thoughts. She could, however, give her honest answer, and hope that it would convince Tara of the truth.

"Tara... hon, you're a beautiful girl," she said honestly, smoothing the girl's long brown hair back away from her face, and placing her palm against her daughter's cheek. When Tara still wouldn't look up, she used her grip against her face to tilt her head up, forcing Tara to look her in the eye. She could see that the girl still wasn't convinced, so she smiled warmly, nodding at her.

"Tara... believe me when I tell you that you're absolutely gorgeous," she went on, studying the girl's beautiful face as though to prove a point. "I don't even understand why you'd have to _ask_ something like that. A single glance in the mirror should tell you everything you need to know."

"Maybe," Tara said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's just that Kelly sort of told me that-"

"Hold up," Casey interrupted, a wave of realization washing over her all of a sudden. She dropped her hand from Tara's face, frowning. "You're getting worked up like this over something your _sister _said to you?"

Tara bowed her head, as though confirming that what her mother had just said was absolutely correct.

"Something like that," she dismissed, shrugging her shoulders awkwardly. "She told me that I'm not the sort of girl that Alex Bennett would ever go after, and-"

"Wait a second," Casey said, and she knew that she should have felt bad for interrupting her daughter so much, but she couldn't bring herself to care much about it. She raised her eyebrows at her daughter, shock racing throughout every vein in her entire body. She leaned forwards slightly, shaking her head.

"You've got a crush on Ryan Bennett's_ son_?" she questioned, as though the thought had never occured to her. Tara blinked at her, and her eyes went wide as her mother buried her face into her hands, shaking her head.

"Oh dear _God_- your father is _not_ going to be happy about this when he finds out," she mumbled into her palms, obviously distraught. "His youngest daughter is crushing on a Bennett. I can't even imagine his reaction to something like that. He's not the best at big shocks."

Tara shook her head at her mother, placing a hand against the woman's shoulder to bring her back to reality. She seemed to sense that her mother had assumed the worst possibility of all, but what Casey didn't realize was that her daughter was physically forcing back laughter, right about now. Tara Venturi crushing on Alexander Bennett was completely unfathomable, and anybody who knew the pair would agree. The two of them had never gotten along, even though they were practically forced together through both their family and friends, on several occasions. Alexander had never tried to flirt with her, even after he had discovered his apparantly undeniable charm with women. It was obvious that they just didn't appeal to each other that way, even if they had never really made an effort to get along.

"Mom, I'm _not_ crushing on Alex Bennett," she assured her mother, her hand still resting calmly on her mother's shoulder. Casey glanced towards her with nervous eyes, as though she could barely dare to believe that her daughter was telling her the truth. Tara was trying not to find this situation humorous, but the look on her mother's face as she tried to imagine breaking this news to her husband was just too funny. Tara herself could not imagine how her father would react if his own daughter was crushing on a Bennett, but she knew without a doubt that he would never have to face such an issue. Alex Bennett was the one boy that she would turn down in a heartbeat, if he was ever stupid enough to ask her out.

"Me and Alex don't like each other," Tara explained, releasing Casey's shoulder as she spoke. "Not in _that _way, or in any other way, shape or form. You know how I feel about that guy."

Casey rolled her eyes, remembering how many arguments they had broken up between the two teenagers, whenever they were forced into the same room together.

'Right," she said, unable to keep a hint of sarcasm from her voice as she reflected upon past incidents. "I don't think I'll ever recover from the Christmas fiasco."

Tara could not help but smile at that one, and she bowed her head to hide this action from her mother. Maybe the adults had not found it funny, but the kids had found it pretty exciting to watch their parents try to extinguish the flames that had shot out of the oven, after the adults had abandoned the turkey to stop a budding fistfight between the youngest of two of the families. The Myers' family, along with the Bennetts and Venturis, got together for any special occasion, and while there would always be tension between Derek and Ryan, and Alex and Tara, they usually managed to make the occasions enjoyable for everyone.

"The Christmas fiasco," Tara reflected, a sheepish smile touching her lips as she looked back up at her mother. "How could I forget about that? I don't think Dad ever quite got over the loss of his hockey stick."

"It was _his_ fault for putting the stupid thing near the back door," Casey shrugged, laughing gently as she remembered her husband's flabbergasted expression when he saw the ashy remains of his precious hockey stick. Admittedly, she _had_ felt horrible for his loss- he'd been playing with that same stick for twelve years. But Tara's lost allowance that month had earned him a new one, as something of a late Christmas present from the family.

"He liked his new stick, though," Tara reminded her mother, as though she were reading her mind. "And besides, I think he felt a whole lot better when he saw that Ryan had burned his hand."

Casey frowned, remembering how quickly their Christmas celebrations had come to an end, once the fire had broken out. They had pieced everything back together once Ryan's burn was treated properly, but between the firefighters, and the empty pizza boxes scattered around the living room, she was reminded oddly of the time her father had came to visit her and her sister in their new home in London, back when she was sixteen years old. The only thing missing this had been Derek's taunting, for he had known that this one was not her fault.

"Yeah," Casey finally replied in a quiet voice, unable to smile at the rivalry that still existed between the two men. "He seemed pretty happy about that. But Ryan's hand healed up just fine, and we still managed to have a _semi_-enjoyable holiday meal."

Tara nodded her head, crossing her legs underneath her on the computer chair. She tucked a strand of long brown hair behind her ear, before looking back up at her mother with curious eyes, already chewing nervously on her lower lip. Casey knew this look well; it was the look that her daughter wore when there was something on her mind- something that she wanted to ask, but was afraid she would not recieve an answer for. She knew that she could ask her parents anything and everything, but there were some things that they could not give her an answer for. There were some things that she was still too young to hear.

"Speak your mind, Tay," Casey encouraged her, giving her a reassuring smile. Tara's eyes snapped up to meet with her mothers, and Casey recognized confusion in her eyes instantly.

Knowing what was on her mind, Casey laughed at the look on her daughter's face, before shaking her head, still smiling faintly.

"Come on, Tay," she reasoned, raising an eyebrow at the girl sitting in front of her. "I'm your mother, and I've been putting up with you for nearly sixteen years now. If you think for one second that I don't know when there's something on your mind, you're crazy. You're quite easy to read, really."

Tara frowned; for she could faintly recall Dylan telling her the exact same thing several times, in the eight years that she had known him. She wondered if she was this easily read by _everyone_, or if it was contained to the people who knew her best. It wasn't like she was trying to hide anything, but the last thing she needed was someone finding out something that they shouldn't, about her. Someone like Tyler Morgan, for example. Was she so easy to read that even _Tyler_ knew of her feelings? She shuddered at the thought of _that _particular confrontation, and turned back to her mother, trying to remember what they had been talking about in the first place, before her mind had gotten carried away with thoughts of Tyler and accidently revealed feelings.

It took her a moment to grasp the subject again, but within a few moments, she remembered. Ryan Bennett. They had been talking about Alexander's father, and she had been holding back a question from her mother, knowing that she would probably get denied the true answer, if she were to ask. She had asked her father the same question many times before, but all she had ever gotten was a brief '_it's adult stuff, Tay,'_ and a quick ruffle of the hair as he told her not to worry about things that didn't involve her.

But this _did _sort of involve her, and if there was one thing she felt like she deserved to know, it was where this burning hostility had originated from, between their fathers. She knew that pure instinct could not create such a hatred between two people, with the exception of her and Alex, and she could tell when she was being lied to.

So, despite her past failed attempts, she took a deep breath and prepared herself for yet another rejection.

"I do have something to ask you, actually. I mean, I know you're probably going to do the same thing as Dad always does, and you'll tell me that it doesn't involve me or whatever, but-"

"Tara," Casey interrupted her, smiling faintly as she squinted at her daughter, trying to see through the anxious look on her daughter's face.

Tara looked up, one eyebrow raised as she waited for her mother to finish, but Casey merely shook her head, laughing gently.

"Whatever it is, just ask me," she persuaded, her voice warm and inviting. "If I can help you at all, I promise you that I will. I'll give you the best answer that I possibly can, alright?"

Tara eyed her mother suspiciously, as though she did not believe for one second that she was going to get the honest truth, once she actually asked the question. Years and years of experience had taught her that, while her parents were fairly open and honest about pretty much anything, Ryan Bennett was a subject that they did _not_ like to discuss. Whenever someone brought him up even casually over something as small as dinnertime chat, a dark scowl would cross her father's face, and he would go into some state of mind that she could not put her finger on. It was almost as though he were _remembering,_ though what he could possibly be reflecting on, she had no idea.

"Why does Daddy hate Ryan so much?" she blurted out, her thoughts turning into words before she really knew what she was doing. Her mothers eyes went wide with regret- probably for promising to tell the truth, and Tara's own cheeks turned blood red as she realized what she had revealed by accident.

However embarassed she was, she knew that it would be in her best interests to carry on while her courage held strong, and while she was already on such a roll.

"I mean, ever since I was just a baby, I can remember you breaking up arguments between him and Dad," Tara carried on, shrugging her shoulders as she looked down at the floor shamefully. "I can remember all of the fighting, but I can never put my finger on any sort of origin."

She was rambling now, and it only took her this one moment of hesitation to notice. As she watched the look on her mothers face fade from regret, into understanding, she knew that an explanation was not needed. There was no sense in explaining to her mother all of the reasons why she felt her father hated Ryan. Her mother knew full well that there was an existing hatred between the two men. Hell, a complete stranger would be able to look at the two of them together and see that the look in their eyes was nothing short of hatred and resentment.

Taking a deep breath, she decided to voice the root of her concerns, and just get her real question out of the way. She was through with useless explanations and beating around the bush; she wanted answers, and she wanted them now.

"What I'm really asking is for... some sort of _reason_ as to why they hate each other so much," she explained, her eyes locked with her mothers as she awaited a response. "I don't even need the full story, because I probably don't want to hear it. But a brief version of the truth would be appreciated."

Casey, who had remained completely silent throughout the duration of her daughter's explanation, was suddenly stiff with tension, her eyes worried and apologetic. She hated going back on any promises to her children, but this was one thing that she could not stick to as faithfully as she would have liked. Promise or no promise, Tara was better off not knowing the real reason behind the ongoing fued between the two men. If she were to figure out that all of this had happened around the time of her birth, she might start to question her _own_ identity. Telling her daughter what had happened was something that had crossed Casey's mind a couple of times before, for she knew that honesty really was the best policy.

But there was too much at stake, to even consider revealing _this _to her children. Jayden knew exactly what had gone on, and the memories were still something that haunted him everyday. Though he appeared to hold no resentment towards his mother for her past actions, Casey knew that it was hard for him to remember everything that had gone on. She saw the anxious look in her son's eyes everytime he saw his mother around Ryan, saw the way he looked at her sometimes, as though he were deep in thought about something...

And she knew. She knew that, while he may have forgiven her for her past mistakes, he had not _forgotten_. He would never be able to forget watching his mother kiss a man that was not his father, on that first day in the mall. He would never forget the way he had watched her come night after night, lying to Derek about where she had been. He would never be able to shake the memories of his father, so clueless, trying desperately to salvage a marriage that had been going right down the drain, slipping through his fingers even further with every desperate grab he made.

And most importantly, he would never ever forget how all of the pressure of the situation had unfortunately fallen on _his_ shoulders, once he had been clued into his mothers secret life with Ryan. He had gone through an entire summer trying to hide a secret that he was completely against. He had been the only one to know of the secret that was slowly tearing his family apart, and Casey knew that it had done the poor guy alot of damage, in the long run. He had never been as easily trusting towards anyone ever again, nor had he been quick to build bonds with anyone outside of his family, for the longest time. He had never gotten over the destruction of his family, and she knew that Jayden had never felt like they were on stable ground again. Even now, she would see the pent-up anxiety flashing through his eyes if her and Derek had so much as a small argument.

Yes, her mistakes with Ryan had definitely cost her family in the long run, and inflicting the same sort of pain upon Jeff, Kelly, or Tara, was not in her best interests.

Especially Tara. What would Tara think, if she were to find out that something like this had happened around the time of her own conception? Would she doubt her own parentage? A simple DNA test would prove who her father was- it already had- and she knew that nothing in the world was powerful enough to break the strong bond that this young girl had with her father. Derek was Tara's father in every way possible, and even the smallest matter of DNA could never change that, even if she _had_ been Ryan's kid.

But still, the idea worried Casey. She never wanted Tara to have to question who her own father was, and she didn't want the girl to think that she had been some last-ditch attempt at saving a wrecked marriage. It hadn't been like that in the slightest, and neither Casey or Derek thought of her in that way. There were times during her pregnancy that Casey had wondered if Derek had only come back to her for the sake of the baby, but those doubts were long gone from her head. Derek loved her for who she was, and he had found it in his heart to forgive her for the mistakes she had made in the past.

But, seeing the lasting damage her affair had had on Jayden, she just wasn't sure if her kids would be able to do the same.

With this in mind, she prepared herself for whatever reaction her daughter would throw at her, once she realized her mother was going back on her word.

Casey straightened up against the bed, her eyes completely serious as she watched her daughter for any sign of anger or frustration.

"I know I promised to tell you whatever you wanted to know," Casey began, her voice steady as she spoke. "But this is something I can't tell you." Tara's eyes flickered with disappointment, and Casey rushed to continue. "Not yet, anyway. Maybe one day, when you're older-"

"When I'm older," Tara got out, her voice suddenly uneven and shaky. "When I'm _older_. That's what you _always_ say, Mom!"

Casey's eyes widened at the obvious frustration in her daughter's voice, frustration that could only have built up over time, through similiar discussions and further delays from the truth. She knew that Tara had had this conversation with her father quite a few times already, and she herself had turned the girl away from her dozens of times, particularily since Tara had hit her teen years. She wasn't sure why the girl was so obsessed with figuring out her father's hatred towards Ryan Bennett. Kelly and Jeff were interested, sure, but they weren't all that eager to figure out the truth. They had never come to their parents to ask what had gone on, and Casey had a good feeling that they never would. They just didn't _care_, like Tara did.

"Tara, sweetheart-"

"No, Mom!" Tara argued, her eyes glazed over with what could only be described as hurt, and anger. "I know this doesn't really involve me, and I know it's all in the past, but I can't help but feel like all of this has got something to do with _me_."

Casey was staring at her now, a mixed look of confusuon and shock resting on her features as she shook her head, frowning.

"To do with... to do with _you_?" she repeated, her eyes hesitant and questioning. Tara remained silent, not moving a muscle, and Casey could only shake her head, as though arguing the girl's point. She reached out, her hand brushing Tara's shoulder gently as she swept the girl's long brown hair over her shoulders.

Tara's eyes were hesitant, as though she was strongly contemplating pushing her mothers hand away from her in anger. Casey probably wouldn't have been able to blame her if she did, for she knew what it was like to feel young and mistrusted, like nobody wanted to tell you anything because you just weren't _old_ enough to deal with the truth. Her mother and father had done it to her all the time when she was younger, and she had found it so frustrating at the time. She could remember thinking about how wrong they were, about how they didn't know a thing about her, or about how prepared she was to know the truth.

But now, having her own kids, and knowing what it was like to keep a secret from them, she knew that her own parents had been right. There were certain things that just weren't worth risking your child's happiness, and this was definitely one of them. Tara may think that she was old enough to handle this, but in all reality, she had alot of maturing to do before she would ever be ready to face something as difficult as her mothers past affair with the father of one of her worst enemies. And while she hated having her little girl mad at her, she knew that this anger would be nothing compared to the anger she would face if she were to come out with the truth. In the end, she knew that they would both be grateful that she had held back, and refrained from telling the truth.

"I know you probably think I'm being really unfair to you, right about now," Casey said, smiling sadly at her girl, her hand still resting against her shoulder. Tara did not respond, and Casey took that as her cue to continue.

"Truth be told, I probably _am_ being really unfair to you, but you need to understand that... I'm only keeping this from you for your own good."

Tara opened her mouth to protest this point, but Casey shook her head, and rushed on before the girl could fit in another word.

"You can sit here and argue with me all day, but I'm not going to break down in the slightest," she informed her, completely confident in her own promises. Tara's lowered her gaze to the ground as her mother continued.

"You mean way too much to me to even _attempt_ risking your happiness," she said, her hand trailing from Tara's shoulder, to her cheek. As her palm curled around the girl's cheek, she examined her daughter's beautiful face with a smile against her lips, unable to believe that this gorgeous young lady was really her own daughter. She was so proud of the person Tara was becoming, right before her eyes. She had worked so hard to raise Tara differently, to make sure that the girl would never make the same mistakes as she had done. She did not want to risk her daughter going through the same sort of thing that she had put herself through years ago, and she knew without a doubt that she had succeeded. Whatever she had done with her kids had worked, because she knew that not one of them had the potential to hurt someone the way she had hurt their father, the way she had hurt Derek.

As she remembered the look on Derek's face when he discovered the truth, she felt a wave of emotion pass through her, and her lower lip trembled with the urge to cry. She had hurt him so badly, she knew, and the scars she had inflicted had never fully gone away, after that day. He still hurt sometimes, and like Jayden, he would never forget what Casey had done to him- to their family.

"Your father is an excellent man, Tara," she spoke up, her voice quiet with unwavering pride and loyalty. "He's an amazing person, and I never want you to doubt that. Don't think any worse of him, just because he doesn't like Ryan. Alot of drama went on between the two of them, but it was never your father's fault."

A beat.

"Truth be told, it was never really Ryan's fault, either."

Tara's eyebrows furrowed together as Casey's hand dropped from her cheek, and she shook her head with confusion, trying to piece this together for herself.

"If it wasn't Daddy's fault, and it wasn't Ryan's..."

She trailed off when she saw her mother shaking her head, the same sort of sad smile still lingering on her lips. With a look of pain swimming in her eyes, she blew out a gentle breath, motioning towards herself.

"My fault," she whispered to her daugher, her gaze faltering to the floor as she remembered her own actions. "Always my fault. Never blame the two of them for what happened- especially your daddy. If you want to blame someone, blame me."

Tara frowned, obviously not content with the idea of blaming her mother for something she knew nothing about.

"I wish I knew why," she said, with the smallest hint of hope left in her voice, but one glance into her mothers eyes told her that she was not going to get the truth out of her. Not today, anyway.

Rolling her eyes, she relaxed her body and nodded her head at the woman in front of her, obviously giving up.

"Fine, fine," she got out, clearly frustrated. "But you'll tell me one day, right? When I'm _old_ enough, all that jazz?"

Casey thought of the promise that she was about to make, her mind trying to come up with some sort of mental image of the day she would stick to this promise, and tell Tara _everything_. She could picture the look of pain and disgust on her daughter's face as she realized her mother was never the perfect woman she had envisioned all of her life...

And it hurt. She shuddered to think that she could become such a monster in her own child's eyes, but she also knew that she had given up all rights to being perfect the very first time she had kissed Ryan. She had made her own mistakes, and she alone ahd to deal with the consequences. Ryan had not been as wrong as she had, in continuing their little affair. Sure, it was wrong of him to persue a woman who he knew was married, but he himself had not cheated on anyone- had not hurt the person he loved most in the world.

That had only been Casey,

But despite the disgust she knew she would force her daughter to feel, by telling her the truth, she knew that she would have to do it someday. The time would come when she would not be able to hide the story with a simple excuse. Because one day, Tara _would _be old enough to face the truth, and she would expect that her mother would have the bravery to tell her exactly what went on between the two men.

And, if anything, she wanted her daughter to know that she was not a coward- she could face the consequences of her own actions.

With this mindset prepared for herself, she managed to swallow back every hint of hesitation and doubt that she felt, and nod her head, her eyes still wavering with uncertainty.

"One day," she whispered, her voice a gentle promise to the truth. "One day, I'll tell you everything."

- - - -

Kelly Venturi was not a chicken, nor was she some sort of pushover. When she wanted something, there was usually not much hesitation in going for it, nor was there ever much interference involved for her to get it. She had grown up being spoiled rotten by her father, and it was probably that mentality that usually pushed her towards making the decisions that _she_ wanted to make, and living her life the way she wanted it to play out- no questions asked.

But today was different. Today, she knew exactly what she had to do, and she couldn't say that she was too happy about it.

She still had Jacob's sheet music stowed away in her binder, stuffed into the exact same place she had put it to avoid her sister's questioning stares and statements.

What did _Tara_ care anyway, if she had taken up music as a hobby? It wasn't like the stupid thing was hers anyway, but even if it was, it wasn't her sister's right to come along and question her on it. They had been sticking to their whole 'live and let live' policy for a very long time now, and she preferred it that way. She didn't bother to stick her nose into her kid sister's business, and as far as she knew, the girl held the same sort of respect for her older sister.

But that mold had been broken today, during their history class. Tara had crossed some sort of invisible boundary line when she had snuck a peek at the sheet on her sister's desk, and Kelly rather felt that she had held no choice but to fight back. Sure, she may have been a little more than harsh to her little sister, but _someone_ had to show the kid that you couldn't just poke around in other people's business, and expect to get away with it, no questions asked. She was the older sister, and it was about time Tara recognized that she wasn't going to be mocked by her own little sister.

"Stupid Tara," Kelly muttered, as she made her way down the long white hallway, which had empited out almost twenty minutes ago, by now. Most students were smart enough to clear out of the school the moment the final bell had sounded, and the only students left in the building by now were the ones who had unluckily landed themselves in detention, or those who belonged to clubs and groups. There were a few scattered students studying in the library, but not many kids usually stayed behind to do that, unless they could not find enough peace and quiet at home to do so.

Kelly had often found herself in the library after school. She _was_ Casey's daughter, after all, and her studies were very important to her, despite her spotless reputation. It could be very difficult to study in a house where your mother and father were always being sickeningly adorable around each other, or your younger sister was up in your older brother's old bedroom, making use of the electric guitar he had left behind. She had yelled at Jayden already for allowing Tara access to something so intrusive and noisy, but his only response had been that she was taking after her brother, and that she had a right to be artistic if she wanted to be.

So between her lovesick parents, her annoying brothers, and her very intrusive and nosy sister, she often found herself studying in the library, after school.

But today, she had not stayed behind after school to do anything pertaining to her studies. No, she had passed the library with full confidence, heading down one set of stairs, and down another, until she had reached the second floor of the school, where the administration office and the nurse's office were both located. She had passed both with no sign of interest, and had paraded straight to the final set of stairs, which she found herself descending now.

She would be lying if she were to say that her heart was beating at anything close to a normal rate. On the contrary, she felt like her heart was ready to beat out of her chest, she was that nervous. Jacob Manning was the sort of guy who obviously preferred to keep to himself, and she knew that she had already broken through that annoyingly thick barrier once. While Jacob hadn't looked too annoyed by their little encounter at the time, she had gotten the feeling that he had been avoiding her ever since. Everytime she had so much as glanced at him in the hallways today, she had been rewarded with a dark sort of glare, one that indicated he was not looking to be pitied, or befriended by someone of _her_ nature. She knew that they were different- polar opposites, really- but honestly, did he have to freeze her out like this? It wasn't like she had done anything _wrong_. Allison had been the one to degrade him, to treat him as though he were nothing but a speck of gum on her shoe. Did he honestly believe that she thought along the same lines as her stereotypical friend?

Really, she had no problem with the whole... music crazed, guitar-playing, dark and mysterious, type of guy. Jacob wasn't all that bad looking, to be quite honest.

"Okay," she decided, as she realized what she had been subconciously thinking of. "Enough overanalyzing for me. I'll just get in there, hand him his music, apologize, and get back out again. He's only there on Tuesdays, so this is the only chance I'll have to get it to him for another week. If I wait until then, he'll think I'm some sort of creeper, for keeping his music that long."

She stopped outside the door of the music room, trying to compose her bundle of nerves into something more manageable- something that she could channel into a calm and collective state of mind. She didn't want Jacob to think that she was an absolute nutcase, after all. She'd already bumped into him once, not to mention stand by while one of her best friends treated him like dirt. She had to come off as _slightly _nice, or else the poor guy would think of her as a total bitch for the rest of their high-school lives.

As she drew in a deep breath, mentally preparing herself, she placed her hand against the cool surface of the doorknob, ready to enter.

She gently turned the doorknob, allowing the door to slide open just a crack.

And she froze.

Whatever level of calm she had just allowed herself to build up had just flown right out the window, and she was completely aware of it.

Because she had never heard anything as beautiful, as _mind-blowing_ as the sound that met her ears when she opened up the door to the music room.

At first, she thought it must be a recording- a recording of angels, no less, but surely no sound as graceful, as _perfect_ as this could come from any one human being. Something so delicate and fragile must have been _made_ that way, twisted and warped until perfection had been achieveable.

But as her eyes fell on the source of the sound, she realized why Jacob didn't need any friends to keep him company. Hell, _she_ wouldn't need friends if she had a voice _this _beautiful to keep her company all day long.

Because Jacob's voice was like the sound of a chorus of angels, a collection of the world's most amazing voices, all combined into one _perfect _melody.

She had never heard anything so tempting, so enchanting, so...

"Can I help you?"

The angel's voice had turned to ice, the words no longer pouring past his lips in a soothing and gentle melody. No, his voice was almost crisp with anger as he spoke, the words escaping in harsh and cool dialect, each syllable rising with more anger than the previous one had held.

And she knew that- if she had been on his bad side before, she was definitely in deep waters now. Jacob Manning was tough enough to deal with when he was in a _good_ mood. But _this_ Jacob, the offended and angry looking Jacob...

Well, she didn't think she could handle him at all.

Dammit.

- - - -

By the time they had finished up dinner, bribed Jeff into staying for just another half an hour, and cleared up the mess that had somehow been made throughout the duration of the afternoon, all Casey really felt like doing was lying down and relaxing. Derek had suggested that they take the car and drive over to Jay's for awhile, to visit with him and his wife, but she had turned him down politely, claiming that she just wanted to lie down and clear her head completely. And while Derek had honestly wanted to go and see how his oldest son was doing, he had nodded his head and told Casey that if she wanted to lie down, he'd come up and keep her company for a little while.

So by twenty after seven that evening, they had both escaped to the safety of their bedroom, before any fighting could break out between their girls. It was very common for the fighting to start by eight or eight thirty, and it was obvious that Casey just wanted to get some relaxation in before she would have to go downstairs and seperate the two of them. Sadly, this was something that she had been doing since Tara was in diapers, and it worried her that she still had to do it at this age. Derek rarely attempted to interfere with his daughter's fights, since they both had him completely and totally figured out. Whenever Derek attempted to break apart a fight between the girls, he always ended up being the one blamed for _something_- even if he didn't do it at all.

"It's relaxing, isn't it?" Casey asked, as she brushed her fingers along the edge of the white bedspread, a gentle smile against her lips. Derek was standing with his back to her, leaning against the windowsill as he looked down at the street below. He thought of better days, when he would watch his little girls playing hopscotch and jump rope on the pavement two stories below this very window. He could remember vividly how they would look up at their father and wave, huge grins plastered across both of their faces as the played together so innocently, the fighting slightly more controlled, back then. He remembered the laughter that would float in through the open window as easily as air, as his two sons would team up together to wage a water war against their little sisters. All four of them would come inside an hour later- dripping wet and shivering with cold, and it would mean that Casey had an extra hour of laundry and mopping to do that night.

But it had always been worth it. Because at the end of the day, putting smiles on their kid's faces had been all that really mattered to them.

But as Derek leaned against the windowsill tonight, he heard no laughter from the pavement below. Their children had long outgrown their childish antics- their waterfights and jump-rope chants. No, this time, the room was filled with nothing but silence, other than the gentle breaths that his wife took in on the bed behind him.

At this, he remembered that Casey had spoken to him, and he turned his head slightly to the right in recognition of her question. He was still back onto her, though he could see the expression on her face through the tall mirror that was attatched to the back of their dresser, which had been placed almost directly in front of their bed. Only a few feet seperated the two pieces of furniture, allowing just enough room to walk to the other side of the room, if needed.

But even with the small bit of distance between his wife and the mirror, he could catch sight of the tiny smile on Casey's face as she lay back against the headboard, her eyes closed as she tilted her head back against the wall behind her.

"What's relaxing?" he asked her, his eyebrows furrowed together as he tried to make sense out of what she had just said.

His only response was a shrug, though she did open her eyes when she realized that she had confused him. Her eyes met with his in the mirror, and the soft smile that she fixed him with went right through him- touching at every lost corner of his heart. He always found it amazing how- just when he thought he could not love her anymore than he already did- she would do something that would prove him wrong. Even something as simple as this gentle smile was enough to make his entire body go weak with pure bliss.

It was only ever Casey that could do that to him.

Finally, she spoke up, and he was relieved to hear that she did sound alot more relaxed than she had been twenty minutes ago. He was almost certain that this had more to do with the lack of chores left to be done, than it did anything else.

"Just being here with each other," she said, her eyes never leaving his through the mirror as she explained herself to him. "We hardly ever get alone time anymore, what with the girls keeping us so busy and whatnot. At least when Jeff was here, we had someone _else_ to mediate the fights between them, every now and then. It feels like all I've been doing lately is refereeing fights between the two of them, and..."

She trailed off, and Derek's jaw visibly tensed as he tightened his gaze specifically, focusing only on her. She must have caught sight of the anxious look in his eyes, for she ignored her reddened cheeks, and hurried to explain herself.

"I miss you," she whispered, shrugging her shoulders sheepishly as her cheeks turned deep red with embarassment.

The pain in her words were enough to make Derek break the weak eye contact that the mirror allowed him, and turn his body towards her so that he could see her for real.

When he caught sight of the look on her face, he knew immediately that she was being completely honest, even if he could not make any sense of what she had just said. His eyebrows were furrowed together with confusion, and his eyes were narrowed on her questioningly, almost as if he were trying to penetrate her mind with his own eyes. He squinted even further, shaking his head as he took a step towards his wife, who was still sitting against the headboards.

"What do you mean, you miss me?" he questioned, shaking his head as though confused. "I haven't gone anywhere, have I?"

"Well, no..." she admitted, and he got the idea that she was regretting bringing this topic up in the first place. He could see that the blush of her cheeks had only grown deeper, if that were at all possible, and he took a seat on the edge of their bed, though he was on the opposite side from where Casey sat.

Her eyes flickered over his features, perhaps to see how he was taking her little piece of news. When she saw that his features were filled with nothing but confusion and concern, she took a deep breath and sat up a little bit straighter.

"It's not that you've gone anywhere," she assured him, like he hadn't already known that. "It's just that we haven't been spending much time together. I mean... you're always working, and I'm working too, and then the girls are always needing something done, and Jayden's had me over to his place all week to help them pick out colours for the nursery, and-"

Before she could finish her ramblings, there were tight arms wrapped around her small body, and she broke off as she found herself in Derek's arms. She hadn't been aware of him moving further up the bed to sit next to her, but he was suddenly right beside her, his arms weaving around her waist to secure her against his muscled chest. As she allowed herself to relax into the safety of his hold, she felt one of his hands- so much larger than her own- smoothing down over her back, pausing at her waist to run back up again, the motion repetitive and purposely calming.

As her breathing slowly began to regulate once more, she allowed her head to drop against his shoulder, where his face immediately buried against her vanilla-scented hair. He breathed in the scent as though it were the purest of oxygen, his eyes fluttering shut as a soft smile touched against his perfectly rounded lips.

"Shh," he coaxed, his voice rough but soothing against her ear. "You just need a good dose of Derek, that's all. It's nothing to be worried about."

"You know how I feel about not spending time with you," she murmered, her voice sounding pathetically desperate muffled into his chest. "You know how easily freaked I get over-"

"I know," he mumbled under his breath, not needing any further explanation on this. "But it's different this time, Casey. The last time me and you weren't spending alot of time together, it was because..."

"-I was a bitch," she finished quietly, her head bowed shamefully as the lump in the back of her throat grew larger. Derek began to shake his head, but she cut him off, bringing a hand up to cup his cheek gently against her palm. She watched as his breathing hitched, and her eyes locked with his as she traced gentle shapes across his cheekbones, not really paying attention to what she was doing.

"I can never fully express to you how horrible I feel about what I did to you," she whispered, her voice filled with so much pain and frustration, that he almost felt bad for _making_ her feel bad. He knew that this was all in their distant past- a faint reminder that they had already seen the worst possible scenarios, and that they had surpassed it all with their love stronger than ever.

And he felt no shame in telling her that.

"Casey," he argued, shaking his head. "You know we're past all of that. It's not something we need to look back on anymore."

"I know," she confirmed, nodding her head at him with a gentle smile against her lips. "But... well, I had a little talk with Tara today."

"Oh yeah?" he questioned, his hand rubbing gentle circles on her back as he turned his gaze to the ceiling, sighing. "And what did you two talk about, huh?"

A pause. Her heart skipped a beat as she contemplated lying to him, to avoid discussing the one sore spot of their relationship. As much as Derek appreciated her honesty in every situation, she knew that he hated Ryan, and that included any discussion that revolved around the guy. If someone brought Ryan up, Derek would very pointedly remove himself from the conversation, and remain silent until someone was smart enough to change the subject.

Knowing this, would it be better to skip the inevitable argument, and make something up? She knew that she could play off her discussion with Tara as some sort of teenage girl thing. Derek would not ask any further questions about that, for the mind of the teenage girl was not something he chose to dive into very often. Would lying be best, in this situation?

She knew the answer to that already. Lies had never gotten her anywhere in her relationship with Derek, and she knew better than to start up with lying to him again now. The last thing she needed was him figuring out that she was keeping something from him, and jumping to the wrong conclusions. It would be all too easy for everything to blow up in her face again, and she was not about to let anyone come between her and Derek again.

With this in mind, she was able to look Derek square in the eye, and know that his temporary shock and anger would be better than the anger she would face if she were to lie about it.

"She asked about you and Ryan," she admitted, her cheeks blushing scarlett as she tried to sound non-chalant about it all. She felt his head turn at this, and his body stiffened against hers, but she did not bother to meet his gaze as she hurried on with her explanation. She didn't want to risk losing the little bit of confidence she had left.

"She wanted to know why you guys hate each other so much."

She listened very carefully, trying to pick up on the smallest of reactions from the man lying next to her. She could almost feel his gentle heartbeat against her side, for his chest was pressed against her body as he lay against his own side. His body was absolutely stiff with tension, and she was worried that he would get up and walk out on this conversation altogether, if she gave him anymore time to think on the matter.

But her fears slightly ebbed away when she felt his hand trail across her back, his grip soft and relaxing. He moved his palm easily against her clothed back, and it relieved her that he seemed to be attempting to calm her down. It was like he was trying to reassure her that he was not angry with her, and this was a very comforting thought to face.

And then, she felt his muscles relax ever so slightly, his body melding perfectly against hers, as though it had been designed to fit just right against hers. She held her breath anxiously as she waited to hear what he had to say, sensing that he would soon speak his mind. Her heart felt like it was racing a mile a minute, her eyes trailing every movement that he made with his free hand, which had come to rest on her right knee. He gripped her knee gently, and when she finally looked up, she saw that his gaze was no less affectionate than it had been only moments before. A little more stressed, maybe, but he did not look angry.

"What did you say to her?" he asked, his voice surprisingly calmer than she had anticipated. "Did you tell her the truth?"

Casey snorted, rolling her eyes as she smiled sadly at the ceiling, shaking her head.

"She'd hate me if I told her the truth," she said, and her eyes softened slightly as her smile faded into a frown, her expression saddened. "They'd _all_ hate me. Jeff, Kelly... even Ryan's kids, I bet."

Derek said nothing, and she had to wonder if it was because he privately agered to what she was saying. She could only hope that their children's hatred towards her would not be inevitable, if and when they ever figured out the real reason behind their father's hatred for Ryan Bennett.

As she thought of this, she remembered what Derek had just asked her, and frowned, tilting her head towards Derek's. He was still watching her with interest, and she frowned, her gaze suddenly more alert than before.

"When you asked me if I... if I told her the truth..." she started, her eyebrows furrowed together as she pieced it together. "Did you mean..."

She was suddenly propping herself up against one elbow, her eyes slightly alarmed as she realized what this could mean.

"Derek, did you_ expect _me to tell her what happened?" she asked, and when he didn't answer, she shook her head, continuing. "She's only fifteen years old, Derek."

"The same age Jayden was, when he found out," Derek pointed out quietly, lowering his gaze to the blanket that lay beneath them. She stared at him, and he sighed, shaking his head as he looked back up at her again, more focused this time.

"I wouldn't expect you to tell her any of that just yet," he reassured her, his hand wrapping even more tightly around her knee, a small smile growing against his lips as he spoke. "She's too young to deal with this. With Jayden, we didn't have a choice except to let him deal with it. He found out everything on his own. But with Tay,"

"-we have a choice," she finished for him, nodding her head as she gazed at him thoughtfully. "You're right, and that was sort of the same thing I tried to tell her this afternoon. I explained that it hadn't been your fault, and that it wasn't even really Ryan's fault either."

Derek snorted, clearly disagreeing with her statement, but she went on as though he hadn't heard his reaction at all.

"I told her that it was my fault, and that's all she needs to know, for now."

They were quiet for a moment, as Casey thought about the conversation that she'd had with her daughter that afternoon. She was almost positive that she had handled things the way any good mother would have. By keeping the truth from Tara, she was only protecting her, right? A small part of her wondered if maybe she was keeping this a secret to protect herself, but she didn't want to think about it that way. She knew that intentions were designed purely to protect her youngest daughter, and if those actions somehow helped her in the long run, so be it. She knew full well why she was doing this, and that was all that mattered.

She was so caught up in thinking about everything that had already happened today, that she barely noticed Derek straightening up a little bit in his position next to her, as though preparing himself for something. As she tuned into his change in body posture, her eyes watched him, and she noticed how he was watching her now, with wary eyes. She was unsure why he suddenly looked so on edge, but she watched as he swallowed hard, giving her a hesitant look.

"I would've let you go," he said, choking over the words as he spoke. "If you had picked Ryan, that is. I would've let you be with him."

Her reaction was immediate, unexpected. A simple roll of the eyes was surprising to him, but yet told him everything that he needed to know; she did not believe him in the slightest. He felt a slight tremor of annoyance pass through him as he realized what she must think of him.

Honestly, did she think he would keep her in any relationship where she was unhappy?

"Casey," he got out, and his voice was suddenly much more alert, more shaken than he had been before. He gazed at her, his eyes attentive and curious, as though he was searching for something in her features that he may have missed before. Casey returned his gaze with nothing more than curiousity, and he shook his head at her, unable to believe that she thought so little of his intentions with her.

His long fingers were suddenly loose from hers, and he was gripping her chin as his eyes scanned her face anxiously. Her skin was smooth and warm beneath his fingertips, and he could not help but marvel at the exquisite beauty that he had the privilege of holding in his arms every single night, as he fell asleep. He could not imagine being able to dream at all, without the feel of Casey's smaller body curved into his chest, so perfectly, so _necessary_. On those rare occasions that one of them could not spend the night at home, it would be quite a difficult goal, trying to sleep.

No, he could not imagine going through the rest of his life without this girl by his side. She was his true love, his best friend, and though he would never, ever, _ever_ admit it aloud, she was his other half, his soulmate. Living without Casey would be like living without a piece of himself, and he knew that that part of his being was almost vital to his own survival, by now.

He would not completely lose touch with the world. No, he would have enough dignity to get on with his life, if Casey were to leave him. He was not a complete and total sap, and he would never allow himself to curl up into some useless ball of misery, and let the world swallow him whole. He would go on for the sake of his dignity, and for the sake of everyone around him, but on the inside, nothing would ever return to the way it had been before. The world would never be _quite _as bright, if he lost her.

But his own pain meant nothing, next to hers. And when it came down to what mattered more to him...

"I would have let you leave me," he repeated himself, taking a deep breath as he tried to say the words calmly. "I'm not saying I can't put up a good fight for my girl, or anything. As long as you want me, I'm always going to be yours. But if there were ever anyone who could make you happier than I could, anyone who could take care of you better than me... I would put your needs before my own. I would let you go wherever you would be happiest, whether that had been with Ryan Bennett, or not."

Casey raised an eyebrow, surprised at his words.

"Derek," she started, but before she could finish, the phone had begun to ring.

She wanted to tell him to ignore it- that one of the girls would answer the phone downstairs. The call was probably for one of them anyway, and she wanted him to explain more to her about this. This was a side of the story that she had never gotten from him before, and she was eager for him to explain himself further.

But before she could so much as question him any further on the matter, he had pushed himself up off the bed, staring down at her with a lost sort of look in his eyes.

"I'd better get that," he said, his voice strained as he backed up towards the dresser, where their cordless phone lay, still ringing. "It's probably Ryan calling back about that whole surprise party thing he mentioned earlier. The one for Amy and Kel, after graduation."

Despite her desire to continue the conversation further, she could not help but smile as she realized that Derek seemed to be all for the idea that Melanie had brought forwards to her husband, the night before.

"So he told you?" she questioned, as he grabbed the phone off of the dresser. He nodded, and her smile grew even larger. "And you agreed?"

More hesitantly this time, he nodded again, obviously not completely okay with planning anything at all with Ryan. Casey herself had definite reservations about putting the two men together in one room. She knew that this could end in disaster, but she also knew that they might just be able to push aside their resentment for one another- for the sake of their daughters.

At least, she hoped that they could.

* * *

**This chapter is rough around the edges, and unbearably late. I apologize. I have been undergoing some severe writer's block, but some reviews and input from you guys might encourage me a little! You may have gotten two alerts for this chapter because I had to fix something that was messed up.**

**But seriously guys, I'm beginning to wonder if this is worth writing. I'll give it another few days, but if you're reading, let me know...**


	5. Rivalry

**Read AN at the bottom to answer an important question. **

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter Five: Rivalry**

"So let me get this straight," Sarah said, obviously trying her very hardest to restrain from laughing at her friend. "You opened the door to the music room, spied on him while he sang, he caught you, and you-"

"-ran," Kelly groaned, finishing her friends statement before she had a chance to do it herself. "I _ran_, Sarah. I don't know what came over me. One minute I was standing there, listening to him sing, and the next... I was running faster than a bat out of hell."

Sarah raised an eyebrow at her friend's analogy, but there was definite amusement in her eyes as she listened to the story. They had stopped now, and Kelly found herself leaning back against the locker next to Sarah's, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as she recalled yesterday's events to the front of her mind. It was so easy to remember the look of absolute shock and anger on Jacob's face when he finally wrenched his eyes away from his guitar, and caught sight of the timid-looking girl in the doorway. His expression had just been so... annoyed, violated. It was like she had intruded on his one sanctuary- the one thing that made sense to him. His music.

She hadn't been aware that he was so utterly _private_ about this sort of thing, and really, it surprised her that Jacob would want to sing all alone in some cramped up little music room. Jacob didn't belong in some stuffy little room, singing to himself day after day. With that sort of voice, he belonged at the top, singing along with the best of the best on some world-class stage, where his talent could truly be appreciated by the world. She had never met anyone with his sort of talent, and to be honest... she felt sort of privileged to have heard such an amazing voice, when the rest of the world was oblivious to such talent.

But still, nonetheless, there were consequences to be faced for this, and there was one thing that she was absolutely sure of.

"I can't face him today," she decided, cringing as she tried her hardest to control her shaky breathing. "He was just so mad at me for spying on him, and-"

"Kel, you worry way too much," Sarah interrupted her, laughing gently as she shook her head at her best friend. Kelly fell silent, and she sighed, clicking the lock back into place on her locker. Before Kelly could say anything, Sarah's arm was around her shoulders, and she was being guided down the hallway by her apparantly comforting friend, their pace slow and and deliberate.

"Jacob Manning is just one of those people that stick to themselves," she went on, her voice lingering with knowledge as she tried her best to explain this to her friend. "He's been in this school... what, four months now? I haven't seen him talk to a single person, aside from the occasional teacher. The guy's a complete robot, Kelly. He doesn't have any friends, and he seems to _like_ it that way."

Kelly remained silent, her eyes uncertain as she took in Sarah's words, an uncomfortable feeling settling over her at what she was being told. She wasn't sure what it was, but something about this news really bugged her. Did Jacob really prefer to keep to himself, like that? Would it be easier on both of them if she were to just stay away from him?

"Maybe... maybe he's just... shy," Kelly suggested, not really believing herself at all. Sarah cast her a doubtful look, but she rushed on, trying to convince herself more than Sarah. "No, really. I mean, when has anyone ever really tried to get to know him, right? Everyone just assumes that he's this... completely emotionless, stone cold loner- someone who wants to keep to themselves, and nobody has ever really bothered to look past that."

"Uh, hello?" Sarah said, her eyebrows scrunched together as she shot her best friend an incredulous look, as though she couldn't believe she was hearing this. Kelly's head turned to look at her friend, and she felt annoyance wash over her as Sarah gave a disbelieving laugh, shaking her head.

"Nobody ever looks past that, because they know what sort of guy he is- the sort of guy he's always been," she said, and when Kelly frowned disapprovingly, she sighed, rolling her eyes at her friend.

"I never thought it would come to this, but truth can sometimes be the most powerful remedy," she said, her eyes serious as they came to a stop, taking a seat on one of the iron-rimmed benches that had been placed in every hallway last semester, after several of Thompson's lazier students had complained that there was nowhere to sit between classes.

Kelly placed her purse on the bench next to her, unable to fight back the tiny smile that surfaced as she glanced over at her very serious-looking best friend.

"You sound like some sort of guru," she pointed out, and Sarah shot her a pointed look, as though trying to remind her to be serious. Kelly laughed, shrugging her shoulders questioningly. "What? Truth is the most powerful _remedy_? Who are you, Dr. Phil? Thanks, but I'll skip the psychoanalysis."

Sarah rolled her eyes at her friend's take on the matter, and she leaned forwards with her elbows propped up against her knees, her head tilted towards Kelly. Her long dark hair fell past her shoulders in gentle waves as she turned, and when Kelly caught sight of the determined look in her friend's eyes, it took everything she had not to get up and run away as fast as her legs could carry her. She knew that look well, and she knew that Sarah was not a force to be reckoned with, when she wanted to get her point across.

She leaned back against the metal frame of the bench, shaking her head as she held up a hand, trying to caution her friend away from going any further. The last thing she needed today was her best friend lecturing her on the school's outcast, the guy she had managed to bump noses with twice already, this week. She knew that everyone was practically afraid to go near the guy, and she knew that she was already in deep water for crossing paths with him so many times in the one week, but she could not help but be drawn in by the mere allure of him. There was just something about Jacob that was so appealing, to her. It wasn't that she _liked _him or anything. On the contrary, she barely knew the guy.

But his singing voice was absolutely amazing, and she had gotten the impression that he wasn't as bad as he seemed, when they had bumped into each other at the beginning of the week. In fact, he had seemed relatively normal, for a few moments. It had only been Allison's cold shoulder that had finally turned him away from her. Before her friend had so rudely butted into the conversation and ruined everything, Jacob had been almost... friendly, towards her. It was an attitude that nobody had seen him maintain in the four months he had been at their school, and she had a good feeling that his brief kindness towards her had been the only display of social interaction he had ever shown, at this school. He preferred to keep to himself, and for him to be so... openly helpful to someone as insignificant to him as Kelly Venturi...

Well, it was a start. The look that he had given her just moments after her fall had been one of pure and simple kindness, as though he was genuinely sorry that he had crossed her path, like that. There had just been something about the way he had looked into her eyes- his usually dark and troubled eyes more amused than she had ever witnessed before. It wasn't much, but it was the only sign that Jacob wasn't as totally horrible as everyone made him out to be- the only sign that he _did_ have the ability to feel something.

And as insignificant of a hope as it was, she was not about to let Sarah ruin her perspective on Jacob- the perspective which somehow defied everyone else's opinion of the quiet and reserved musician.

"I don't want to hear it, Sarah," she said, shaking her head as she fixed her friend with a pointed look. "Whatever it is you think I should know about him, just keep it to yourself, okay?"

Sarah, who had formerly been watching her friend with a look of utmost sympathy, as though she felt sorry for Kelly's apparant blindness to Jacob's real self, suddenly rearranged her expression altogether. Her formerly soft and apologetic eyes were now cold and distant, as though she was offended by her friend's refusal to listen to reason. Sarah was a nice girl, but she was the sort of person who always wanted to make sure other people were listening to what she was saying.

And it was usually only ever Kelly that defied that sort of rule.

"Fine," she bit out, tossing her hair over her shoulder as she stood up. Kelly's eyes followed her as she adjusted her purse on her shoulder, and shifted her load of books into her other arm, her eyes cold and emotionless as she looked down at her best friend.

"Be all chummy with Jakie-go-lovely, for all I care," she said, her eyes narrowed at her friend disapprovingly, a sign that she really did care. "I've got better things to be doing with my time than hanging out with potential jail-bait, and people stupid enough to fall for their bull."

Jail bait? Sure, Jacob looked a little rough around the edges, and yeah... there were rumours about his past, but Kelly had always tuned those out, and she thought that Sarah held the same sort of respect for her fellow classmates. Kelly never believed a rumour unless it was true, and she had wisely chosen to ignore all of the rumours that had spread around about Jacob, in the past four months or so. Then again, Jacob had never really concerned her at all, before now. He had just been that guy- the one that nobody talked to, the one that was quite intent to pretend that the world around him just didn't exist.

She wasn't sure what it was, but she was no longer willing to accept Jacob as some sort of dark and troubled nuisance, a social let-down for their school. No, she would turn a blind eye to the things people said about him, and she would choose not to listen to whatever Sarah wanted to tell her, about him.

That wasn't to say that she had big plans on becoming 'chummy' with Jacob, like Sarah had so wrongly accused her of. The guy was completely different than her- that much was obvious. He was mysterious and quiet, artistic and reserved- the complete opposite of every last one of Kelly's friends. She always tried to shy away from being pinned down to one particular group. She had friends in pretty much every social circle in this school...

But Jacob... well, he didn't even belong to a social circle. And as cruel as it sounded, she figured that there must be a reason for that. Maybe there was just no one else at this school with close enough interests to his own. Maybe he was too busy with his music to really care much about having friends.

Maybe he didn't _want _to make friends with the kids at Thompson. That was a possibility, too.

But it did not matter what Jacob's motives were; they did not concern her. At lunchtime, she would track him down and give him back the music that had accidentally fallen into her hands on Monday morning, when they had collided in front of her classroom. She would explain that she had not been spying on him intentionally, and she would apologize.

And then, she would be done with this Jacob business for good.

- - - -

"I'm not going."

Casey rolled her eyes, her gaze annoyed as she turned her head to look at her husband, who was sitting next to her in the passengers seat of their SUV. His arms were folded across his chest as though proving his point, and the cute little scowl set upon his handsome features made it too difficult to be angry at his stubborn attitude.

Biting back a smile, she tried her best to keep her voice calm, and free of any sign that she found his stupidity amusing.

"Derek, we're already here," she pointed out, nodding towards the large white house they were parked in front of. Derek's eyes scanned over the house that had once belonged to their best friends, Kallie and Cole.

His eyes darkened considerably as he read the family name plate, which was displayed proudly above a pale blue front door. She could practically feel the disgust radiating off of him as he glared at the word, obviously frustrated with the situation.

"Traitors, the whole lot of them," he muttered, as he unwillingly unbuckled his seatbelt, and let it snap against the back of his seat carelessly. "Why the hell did Cole let scum like Ryan move into his old house in the first place? Doesn't he know how _uncomfortable_ it is, having this idiot live within walking distance of my home? My goal was to keep the idiot as far away from you as possible, oddly enough."

"He had to sell the house to _someone_, Derek," she reminded her husband, knowing that all of his fears were irrational; she would never make the same mistake twice.

She pulled the key from the ignition, sighing slightly as she placed her hand over his against his knee.

"Listen to me," she said, her voice steady and calm as she looked him right in the eye, noting his reluctant concentration on her words. "I've been telling you for sixteen years, and I'll tell you again, if that's what it will take to get it through your stubborn mind."

His eyes were wary as he waited, already knowing what she would say, and yet eager to be reassured, all at once. She could not count the number of times that they had discussed this matter together, but she knew that it might never make a difference, no matter how many times she told him the truth. Her disloyalty to him sixteen years ago had shattered his faith in her word- on this subject, at least. Giving him a kiss and promising him that Ryan meant nothing could only keep him calm until some other sort of reminder slapped him square in the face. And once it did, he'd be right back to square one- panicking over the smallest of things, things that shouldn't bother him, anymore.

"You know that I love you, and only you," she said, keeping her voice down so that their youngest daughter could not make out their conversation over the steady beat of the music that was blasting out of her headphones. Casey highly doubted that her daughter could hear a word of what was going on, but she made sure to choose her words carefully, just in case.

"The past is the past, and you need to trust that I've changed since then," she said, a gentle smile on her face as she slipped her fingers through his, squeezing his hand gently. "I will never make the same mistakes that I did sixteen years ago. Do you understand that?"

Derek's eyes locked with hers, and she held his gaze, for fear that looking away would shatter his confidence, again. He scanned her eyes nervously, and when he found nothing but truth in them, he shrugged his shoulders, grabbing his wallet off of the dashboard and stuffing it violently into his jacket pocket, a scowl still set on his features.

"Whatever," he muttered, gripping the handle to the door agressively. "Doesn't mean I have to like him. Stupid, idioitic, egotistical-"

His useless ranting was cut off by the slamming of the door, an action which finally caused Tara to remove her headphones, and look towards her mother curiously.

"What's wrong with Dad?" she questioned, watching as Derek stormed up the pathway towards the front door, still muttering useless threats to Ryan under his breath.

Casey watched him, shaking her head as she realized how little had changed between the men in the past sixteen years.

"Do you want a list?" she questioned, shaking her head as she gripped the steering wheel a little bit tighter. "He's just moody right now, that's all. I knew it was a bad idea to take him here."

"If I'm moody, does that mean you won't want to take me in either?" Tara questioned, her eyes lit up hopefully as she leaned forward, resting her chin against the back of the seat that her father had just abandoned.

Casey rolled her eyes at her daughters question, shaking her head.

"No, it most definitely doesn't," she informed her, glancing in the rear-view mirror as she smoothed her lipgloss over her lips. "You said you wanted a ride to Leah's house, and we happen to have to make a stop along the way, so I want you to be on your best behaviour in there, alright? We're already going to have enough tension in there, with your father spitting out insults every two seconds."

"But Mom-"

"You're coming with us, end of discussion."

Without waiting for a response, she had stepped out of the car, and slammed the door shut behind her.

Tara rolled her eyes, yanking the headphones violently from her ears as she glared after her mother, annoyed.

"I really need a liscense of my own," she decided, before flicking her IPOD onto the seat next to her, and scrambling out of the car after her mother.

- - - -

"This party is going to be absolutely _amazing!_"

Derek rolled his eyes as his wife squealed with excitement, grinning happily across the coffee table at the other woman in the room, Ryan's wife.

Melanie Bennett was a gorgeous woman, and she had a sparkling personality to match. Derek would have always figured that Ryan would end up with someone gorgeous, no doubt, but someone with absolutely no morals, someone equally as stuck up and self-concerned as himself. To be honest, it shocked Derek that Ryan had managed to commit to a relationship for so long, much less a marriage to a decent woman. The woman did not have a single bad trait about her. She was kind and generous, funny and caring... the seemingly perfect woman, just like Casey was to Derek.

Which left him with one lingering question; how the _hell _did Ryan ever manage to reel these girls in? In Derek's mind, he was the complete opposite of perfection. Sure, he was probably considered good looking, in the perspective of a woman, but honestly, what was there to like about his personality?

He knew he should not complain. Melanie had never caused him any problems in his life, and he knew that he should probably be grateful that someone else had finally grabbed Ryan's attention. If it wasn't for Melanie, who knew how much longer Ryan would have fought to steal Casey from Derek? He may have never succeeded, but who knows how much damage he could have inflicted upon their relationship, if he had not chosen to step aside, and chase after the one he really wanted.

"Derek, what do you think?"

Derek's eyes snapped up immediately, and he tilted his head to see his wife sitting beside him, watching him with excited and curious eyes. He knew that he must have missed out on something, as usual, but he had a surefire way of getting out of this one.

Smiling, he took her hand in his, his eyes locked with hers as he nodded his head in agreement with whatever she had just said.

"Yes, absolutely," he chided, his voice falsely cheery. "What you said."

Ryan snorted at Derek's attempt at a cover up, and Casey dropped his hand, rolling her eyes.

"The grass is green, the sky is blue, and Derek isn't listening; glad to see the world is at peace," she said, rolling her eyes as she jotted something down on the notepad that she was balancing on her knees, pushing her long brown hair over her shoulder.

Ryan grinned at Casey's anger, obviously enjoying himself. His feelings for Casey may be gone, but that didn't mean he didn't love outdoing Derek whenever he could.

"Amateur," he sneered, tightening his grip around his own wife's waist. "Don't you know how to handle these sorts of things? You need to _respect_ your woman."

Derek's eyebrows furrowed together with confusion, and Melanie turned to look at her husband, a proud smile tugging at her lips as her eyes lit up with obvious glee at his words.

"Aww, how cute are you?" she chirped, her voice sickeningly sweet as she flashed him her most adorable smile, looking like a lovesick puppy.

Ryan's lips turned up into a smug smirk, shrugging his shoulders as he glanced back at the man sitting across the table from him. Derek could practically feel the sweet taste of victory radiating off of the idiot, and he wanted nothing more than to lean across the table, and knock the guy out. He didn't know it was possible to hate someone as much as he hated Ryan. And if there was one thing that got him even angrier than Ryan's presence, it was when Ryan came off as a bigger man than him. He always had the strongest urge to say something that would completely embarass the guy- something that would prove Ryan wasn't as perfect as he made himself out to be.

But this time, he didn't have to worry about screwing up Ryan's victory at all. This time, the idiot managed to do it for himself.

"Like I said, it's all about respect," Ryan went on, deciding to take his winnings a step further. "If you're going to pretend you were listening to your woman, don't sound _too _cheerful when you answer her, just in case she was droning on about something upsetting, and you didn't know it. Trust me, you need to sound cool and casual- just to cover all the bases. That way, she'll think you respect her feelings on whatever she's talking about."

Melanie rolled her eyes then, pulling out of her husband's grasp as she realized her husband was no better than Derek. It didn't matter that Derek had been the one to tune out this time, because the both of them were idiots, and they were both much too lazy to even bother just giving up, and paying attention for a change.

"Okay, we really need to start looking for new men," she decided, shaking her head as she glanced back down at the list in front of her, ignoring her husband's offended pout. "Casey, is there anyone in particular you'd like to put on the guest invite list?"

"What about people we _don't_ want on the invite list?" Derek replied, raising an eyebrow as he shot a dirty glare at Ryan, who grimaced in return. Casey quickly smacked her husband's shoulder, her cheeks turning red with embarassment. He let out a quiet hiss of pain, a grumpy expression on his face as he rubbed his shoulder tenderly, ignoring the remorse on her face when she turned to face her two friends.

"Sorry about that."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too," Ryan said, and when both women eyed him curiously, he smirked, shrugging. "For you to be married to a complete-"

"Enough!"

Everyone in the room turned to look at Melanie, who was looking back and forth between both of the men as though she had never seen anything this pathetic in her life. Her cheeks were red- a mixture of embarassment from her husband's actions, and anger that they could not set aside their differences, even for their daughter's sakes.

"Are you two honestly going to tell me that you can't fake a smile and get along, for your _daughters_?" Melanie asked, raising an eyebrow as she glanced back and forth between the two. She noticed how Derek's cheeks flushed with shame, but Ryan stood his ground, his arms folded stubbornly across his chest as he stared at the floor.

"I know you've had your differences in the past, but for once, this isn't about you," she went on, trying her best to reason with them. "Your daughters are graduating in _five weeks_, you guys, and to be honest... it worries me that they show more maturity than you two do. Seriously, if you two can't sit down and do something nice for your children, then... I'm not so sure we'll be including you in the planning."

Derek's eyes widened, and he looked to his immediate right, searching for some sort of alliance with his wife.

But Casey folded her arms across her chest, her expression solid as she nodded her head in agreement with everything Melanie had just said.

"I'm sorry, Derek- but she's right," she said, ignoring the crestfallen look that crossed his features. "I know how much you two hate each other, but me and Mel were under the assumption that you could put aside your differences, and be mature enough to do something nice for our girls."

She paused, her eyes filled with apology as she shook her head at him, doubt clear on her features.

"I'm really not so sure about that, anymore," she admitted, trailing off thoughtfully. "I want this graduation party to go smoothly, and if that means taking you and Ryan out of the picture to plan it, then..."

"No, no," Derek said quickly, shaking his head at her. She looked like she wanted to say something more, but she held her tongue as he straightened out of his slump, taking her hand gently within his own. Ryan and Casey both eyed him suspiciously, but he kept his eyes on Casey, his gaze reassuring.

"I don't know about Ryan, but I can be mature about this, for Kelly and Amy's sake," he said, though it was easy to tell that his words were forced. "If being nice to _him_ will make our girls happy, even for one night... then... well, I can do it. There's nothing I want more than for her to be happy."

It was very easy to tell that he was forcing himself to say these words, and that there was no way in hell he actually wanted to be nice to Ryan. His offer of kindness was purely for his wife's sake, and for the sake of his daughter's happiness. Anyone with half a brain could see that he just wanted to be the nice guy, in all of this. There was nothing Derek Venturi enjoyed more than outdoing Ryan in some way, shape, or form. And offering to put aside their age-old grudge, for the sake of the girls?

Yeah, that definitely took alot of guts.

Despite the motivation behind his sudden kindness, Casey just seemed to be pleased that he was willing to change his ways at all. Within moments, her arms were wrapped around his neck, and she was hugging him tightly, a huge smile on her face as she rewarded her husband for his sacrifice.

"Thank you," she said happily against his ear, unable to hide the excitement in her voice. "I knew you'd make the right choice, in the end. Kelly's going to absolutely _freak_ when she finds out!"

Derek couldn't help but smile at the happiness in her voice, and he returned her hug cautiously, his eyes watching Ryan the entire time, noting the glare that the man was fixing him with.

"Yeah," he said blankly, his voice almost completely void of emotion, despite the smile on his face. "She'll be thrilled."

- - - - -

To say that Tara was bored out of her mind would be a complete and total understatement. She had entered the Bennett's house with the full understanding that this would get boring quick, but she had not expected her parents talk with their friends to go on for quite so long. Usually, her fathers rivalry with Ryan would end most of the adult's get-togethers pretty quickly, and she would find herself back at home, listening to her mother lecture her father on how to be civil, and be polite to even your enemies.

She supposed that today might seem a little extra boring because none of her siblings were here with her. Even though she couldn't stand Kelly, she could usually count on one of her brothers to keep her entertained with stupid jokes or immature pranks on their parents. It wasn't like she never got bored when they were here, because she did. But at least she had something to keep her _slightly _entertained, when one of her siblings got dragged along with her.

She brushed her fingers along the edge of the pale blue ledge that lined the entire right side of the room, its surface beginning just below the two windows that were placed on either side of the wall. The ledge was lined with trophys and awards that Amy and Alex had received over the years- reminders of their accomplishments. There were pictures thrown in every now and then- Alex shaking hands with some stupid hockey player, Amy receiving an award from the mayor for her public speaking award- but it did not surprise Tara in the slightest that most of the certificates and trophys were stamped with Alex's name.

The dude was a complete and total legend in their town, when it came to hockey. It annoyed her that people often referred to him as 'the Derek Venturi of his time'. Okay, yeah- the guy could definitely play hockey, there was no denying that. She had watched him bring their team to victory time after time during the championship games. But to compare Alex Bennett to her _father_- the greatest man she knew- well, that was taking it a little bit too far. Someone as arrogant and self-concerned as Alex could never be like her father, though her mother often argued that point.

She was brought out of her trance only by the sound of her phone ringing in her jeans pocket- a text message from Leah, no doubt- wondering where she was and what was taking her so long.

Sure enough, when she flipped the black cellphone open, she was met with a text message from her best friend, Alex's cousin, Leah Myers.

_'T- where r u? told u 2 b here an hour ago!' _

Tara rolled her eyes at her friend's annoying use of abbreviations, before hitting the reply button, her fingers moving very quickly across the keypad.

_'Stuck at your cousin's house. Be there soon- I promise.'_

She flipped her cellphone shut again, but before she could stow it away in her pocket safely, a voice spoke up behind her, deep and amused.

"Texting anyone I should know about?" it asked, and she knew by the arrogant demeanor in his voice that it could only be one person. Sure enough, when she turned, she was met with the brown-haired, hazel-eyed God that every girl in their school seemed to dream about. She knew that just about any girl would die to be in her place right about now- standing with Alex Bennett in his basement- but to her, this was something that happened just a little bit too often. If she had a dollar for everytime she'd had to put up with this guy's complete and total arrogance, she'd probably be rich by now. She just wished that all of the foolishly obsessed girls in Alex's little fan club could come to the same realization that she had come to years ago; that Alex was not as perfect as he seemed.

Turning to Alex, she replaced her cellphone in her pocket, and folded her arms across her chest- her brown eyes narrowed at him angrily.

"It's really none of your business who I text," she deadpanned, shaking her head at him as he took another step forward, the amusement in his eyes never fading.

"Maybe not," he agreed, shrugging his shoulders casually as he slid his hands into his jeans pockets, shoulders slumped. "I dunno, though. You've got a couple of really good looking friends."

She did not let his words phase her. Instead, she returned his smirk with one of her own, and raised an eyebrow, trying not to let her gaurd down.

"Glad to hear you think Dylan is attractive," she teased, watching as the smirk on his face faltered slightly, replaced with slight surprise. She usually wasn't one to fight back against him for very long. Experience had taught her to get in an insult or two, and then turn her back on the situation, before she said something that she would really regret. Her mother had always told her to walk away when she got too worked up against someone, and that was exactly what she had always done, when it came to the boy standing in front of her.

"If you must know, I was texting your cousin," she informed him, wanting to steer clear of the insults for awhile. "Hardly anyone you'd be interested in, I would hope."

Alex sighed, removing his hands from his pockets as he folded his arms across his chest, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I try to steer away from incest, thanks."

An awkward silence fell between the two of them, and Tara found herself wishing that she had just turned her back and ran when the opportunity had first presented itself. They were watcing each other with hesitant eyes, as though unsure whether they wanted to end this conversation now, or take the chance that it would turn into another one of their famous arguments.

It was Alex who made that decision, taking a turn onto the more dangerous path, as per his usual stupidity.

"So what are you doing at my house, anyway?" he asked, his hands returning to his pockets as he brushed past her, walking the length of the room slowly, his back turned to her as he examined every single one of the trophys that were displayed on the ledge.

"I'll assume you didn't come here to goggle at my trophies," he said, and she could have sworn that there was a note of arrogance displayed in his voice then. "Pity, really. Most girls are even more attracted to me when they find out I'm a star athlete."

Tara let out a bitter laugh, leaning back against the hard wall behind her as she kept her eyes on his back, determined not to let him get to her.

"Most girls haven't seen Mr. _Star Athlete _sucking his thumb while his mother tries to change his diaper," she got out, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards into a smirk as she spoke.

He tensed slightly, his eyebrows furrowing together as he realized how much dirt she really had against him.

"Touché," he said, his voice slightly strained as he realized he had nothing substantial to fight back with, in this case.

Tara wasn't like Alex at all. If there was one thing that Alex cared about in his life, it would be his absolutely flawless reputation, and everyone knew it. He went out of his way to make sure that nobody had anything that they could use against him- that nobody could bring him down from his place at the top of the social ladder. He had ways of making people stay quiet, on the rare occasion that someone knew something that they could use against him. Threats, favours, you name it- Alex would do it. Nobody was perfect, and it seemed that even Alex seemed to understand that his place as king was never a gaurantee. Anyone could bring him down in a mere matter of seconds, and she had a feeling that this was why he tried his best not to get her _too_ angry.

After all, they would be in the same school next year, and who was going to believe him against a girl who had picturs of little Alex Bennett playing dressup with his older sister?

They both knew what was important here; she had him, and she had him good. She had never done anything that she was overly ashamed of, and even if she had- it wasn't like she had as much at risk as he did. There were definite benefits to being popular by association; nobody really cared what you did, and on the off chance that someone spilled something embarassing about you... well, the torture would not last nearly as long as it would if you were practically the ruler of the school.

"Seriously though," Alex said, apparantly trying to steer clear of anymore discussion of their pre-school days. "All jokes aside- why are you here?"

He turned around then, making his way back towards her side of the room as his eyes focused on her face, awaiting her reaction.

She watched him for only a moment, before shrugging her shoulders, a blank expression on her face.

"My parents are here," she explained, as though it were completely normal for her to be here everyday. "I was on my way to your cousin's house, and we had to drop in here first. End of story."

"No," he said, shaking his head as he came to a stop directly in front of her. She looked up at him, her eyes confused as she tried to ignore the proximity between them. Alex had a habit of standing way too close to her, but it was a hatred that she had never really discussed with him. For some reason, she had never seen it as necessary to tell him how much it bothered her, when he stood as close to her as he did.

"I meant why are you _here_, as in... standing outside my bedroom, as opposed to being upstairs with your parents?"

She froze then, turning her head towards the only other room in the basement; Alex's bedroom. She felt her cheeks go blood red, and her entire body tensed as she remembered Alex's 'off-limits' rule, when it came to the basement. In his opinion, the basement was _his_ territory, and it was a well-known rule that nobody came down here without his permission. She could easily remember all of the times he had sooked and complained to his parents, on the off-chance that someone wandered downstairs during family get-togethers, and she was immediately at a loss for words as she struggled to come up with some sort of explanation.

"Um... I... I sort of... well..."

Alex smirked, laughing cockily as he took another step towards her, his chest almost touching hers now. The proximity was enough to silence her, and she found herself looking up at him with confusion as he shook his head at her, the victory and arrogance clear in his eyes.

"You don't need to come up with excuses," he informed her, still smirking as he tried to hold back his laughter. "Don't you know there's a special clause in my rules, when it comes to pretty girls?"

Her jaw dropped, and she found herself stepping past him, her blood boiling with anger as he turned to face her again, laughing as she took a step backwards.

"What?" he asked, the amusement obvious in his voice. "I know coming down to my room is tempting and all, but me and you? Yeah, not gonna work, babe."

She knew that he was just trying to get under her skin, but she wasn't planning on sticking around to watch him do it.

Without another word, she had stormed past him completely, her eyes narrowed as she gripped the railing to the stairway, deciding it would be much easier to sit through their parent's boring party plans, than stay down here with him.

Despite her resolve to keep on going until she was out of his view, the sound of laughter following after her was all it took to spin around, her face blood red as she tried her hardest not to go back and hit him.

"You're sick," she decided, shaking her head angrily as she tried to control her shaking hands. "Absolutely sick."

"You know I'm right," he laughed, shrugging his shoulders as he leaned casually against the ledge, smirking at her. "It's only a matter of time until you realize that."

She shook her head again, fighting back her own disgust in favour of her dignity.

"Pig."

"Prep."

"Jerk."

"Whatever, you want me."

She knew there was no use in fighting against him any harder than she was; it was only going to lead to more ridicule and tormenting on his behalf. And honestly? She wasn't sure if her blood pressure could sky-rocket any higher than it already had; an unhealthy sign for a fifteen year old girl.

So, letting out a frustrated cry of fury and anguish, she found herself storming up the two sets of stairs leading to the first floor, slamming the basement door behind her as she stepped into the living room again.

She paused as she caught sight of all of the adults staring at her, and she shook her head, scowling as she stormed across the living room, her eyes set on the door that led to the front porch.

"I'll be in the car," she got out, her voice shaking with anger as she reached for the doorknob angrily.

Her mother was the first to speak up, her voice concerned and surprised.

"But Tay-"

"I'll be in the car!" she repeated, and before anyone could argue the point further, she had slammed the front door so hard that the pictures on the walls of the living room shook in her aftermath. They were all silent, trying to figure out what had just happened, but the only sound that could be heard was that of amused laughter in the basement, that could belong to only one person.

Finally, Derek broke through the awkward silence by turning to his wife, his eyes innocent as he gave her a hopeful look.

"Can I go with her?"

His only reply was a light punch on the side of his arm, a very distinct reminder of his promise to be nice.

* * *

**Sorry for the late update. I have been working practically every single day! That should stop once school starts again though. **

**Quick question though; I have been working on the sequel to Through the Haze alot lately, and was wondering if you guys would rather I wait until this is finished to post it, or work on both at the same time? Leaving it up to you guys, pretty much. So let me know. **


	6. Note On Chapter Six

**Hey guys.**

**I absolutely hate posting author notes seperately, but I also didn't want you guys to think I had completely forgotten about this story, and not all of the readers of this story read my other one, so I couldn't post it there.**

**Anyway, to clear up some confusion, no. I have not forgotten about this story. I still plan to finish it. My other story is sparking more interest than this one right now, and I am completely blocked on the new chapter right now.**

**But it's not cancelled, it's just... on hold. I will finish it, I promise. **

**Sorry!**


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